Frontier Fiesta, a UH tradition that began in 1939, begins at 4 p.m. today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Fraternities and sororities have been preparing their stations in Fiesta City and their variety show performances for months, taking on a large portion of the effort put into the weekend-long festival. | Sam Tran/The Daily Cougar
The storefronts have been raised, the electronics are set up and the last coats of paint are drying.
Frontier Fiesta launches at 4 p.m. today, the culmination of a year’s worth of work by the Frontier Fiesta Association, Greek life and numerous volunteers.
The board of directors and volunteers have been working daily for the past two weeks, pulling late nights sometimes until 4 a.m., to build the festival from the ground up. Frontier Fiesta Director of Development Robert Spencer said the fraternity and sorority members and the other volunteers have been working hard.
“They spend weeks and months preparing for this, not just in their builds but in their variety shows. Without them, there would be no Fiesta City,” Spencer said.
“Without (the volunteers, the board of directors) would be worthless. There’s only eight of us on the board — we can’t do this all on our own.”
It’s this teamwork that the board members say has been the biggest strength of the building process.
“We’re feeling good right now … The teamwork has been really great. We’ve had quite a few people out here, even over Spring Break,” said Frontier Fiesta chairman Hunter Lewis.
“I think we had a really good showing of our volunteers and our assistant directors. I don’t think we expected that. They were out consistently, so we had a lot of help from them. It’s been a great team effort. We’ve loved it every step of the way.”
Frontier Fiesta will kick off with a ribbon cutting by Mr. and Ms. Fiesta, the winners of a fundraising contest to raise the most money in a set period of time, who will also be announced at the opening ceremony. The 11 candidates have raised a total of $10,000 that will be given as freshman scholarships.
The Spirit of Houston Marching Band, athletes, administration, Shasta and more will then set off the event with the Frontier Fiesta parade, which will trek through the lot, showing off Fiesta City and the work done by everyone.
With several returning board members, including Lewis, the Frontier Fiesta board of directors has based its preparations this year on last year’s Frontier Fiesta.
“We were able to think about last year — what were our successes, what were our failures — and then use those to strengthen ourselves this year, schedule ourselves a little better, add a little more things that we would like to have last year, get rid of things that weren’t so great,” Lewis said.
The new features include the General Store — which sells Frontier Fiesta merchandise and light food, such as Shasta’s Cones — and a city hall and courthouse that’s twice as large as before. The main stage is larger than ever, and two side stages will join it.
Bud Light has made big contributions to this year’s Frontier Fiesta, with its stage providing the ground for many of the biggest events. Budweiser is also providing taco bars and will be showcasing a brewmaster, who will teach onlookers how to brew beer.
Above all, this year’s Frontier Fiesta has a heavier focus on music, featuring local bands as well as nationally recognized acts. Lewis said rapper B.o.B, a headlining act, will be a massive force for bringing students through the front gates.
“It’s been a stressful week and a half; it’s been exhausting. I’m tired, I’m worried, I’m scared, I’m nervous, but most of all I’m excited,” Lewis said. “I think it’s been a really exciting process. It’s been a learning experience; lots of new things, lots of old things, too. To us, our jobs mostly end Thursday at 4 p.m. Once the event starts rolling, there’s no stopping it. … We just get to enjoy the ride at that point. Everybody gets to have a great time; we get to see it happen.”
The plans Lewis and the Board made this year worked toward the goal of long-term growth. He hopes to expand even more next year.
“From my experience last year, there’s nothing more indescribable than the feeling the first night of Frontier Fiesta as a board member, when you get to see what you worked on, not only these two weeks of build, but for the entire year, in planning, working on the logistical aspects of Frontier Fiesta, all the things we do behind the scenes, going all that way Thursday night when you get to see all the people who are just having a great time, they’re celebrating, and they’re enjoying the community and the school spirit of the University of Houston,” he said.
“There’s nothing better to a board member than getting to see that.”
