Frontier Fiesta
| Frontier Fiesta | |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Annually in the Spring |
| Location(s) | University of Houston |
| Inaugurated | 1940, 1941, 1947-1959 |
| Most recent | 1992-Present |
| Website | |
| uh.edu/fiesta | |
Frontier Fiesta is a three-day event at the University of Houston that takes place on campus every spring semester, usually in the last weekend of March to the first weekend in April. At this event student groups perform variety shows, host carnival booths and put on multicultural performances, cookers participate in a large cook-off competition, and the night offers free concerts by big name performers. Money raised from Frontier Fiesta goes to 10 scholarships offered to incoming freshmen. At its peak from 1946 through 1959, the Frontier Fiesta received national attention by drawing huge crowds of up to 200,000 people and was profiled in Life magazine.
However, in 2012, Frontier Fiesta is still an active "student–run, student–led festival hosted by the University of Houston to promote scholarship, community, and education in the University of Houston students, staff, and faculty, as well as in the Houston community." Frontier Fiesta exhibits talents of the University of Houston student body. "Each year a piece of the University of Houston campus is transformed into a fully functional town called 'Fiesta City.' Frontier Fiesta features free live concerts each night, variety shows by student organizations, carnival booths, multicultural performances, and a BBQ Cook–Off and Bake Fiesta."
In 1940, a group of students started a tradition known as Frontier Fiesta. This annual event had variety shows performed by students and concerts and was intended to bring together University of Houston students and the Houston community. The tradition grew tremendously over the next few years and became hugely popular, and Houston mayors often declared "Fiesta City" as an official "town" for the week. Hollywood stars such as Humphrey Bogart, James Garner, Anne Baxter, Kenny Rogers, and Patsy Swayze were attracted to the annual event.Life magazine once dubbed it, "The Greatest College Show on Earth". It also drew attention for only accepting Confederate money.
The annual tradition became too large and involved as the event was having a considerable impact academically for the students involved. Due to this, Frontier Fiesta was discontinued after the Frontier Fiesta of 1959.
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