Frontier Fiesta this year was a little different than usual.
In past years, Frontier Fiesta was a week-long affair with carnival rides, competitions, a cook-off and packed concerts. This year, the one thing that did stay the same was a week full of activities.
The event donned a new name, Fiesta Live, and adapted to the circumstances brought by the pandemic with new events like drive-in movies, socially distanced concerts and virtual events.
For Rachel Siba, a psychology freshman, this was her first chance to participate in activities with people in-person since moving on campus at the start of the year.
“It’s nice to see more activities with people showing up, or at least from what we’ve noticed,” Siba said.
“Since me and my friends usually didn’t leave the dorms as much cause of COVID, it’s just nice to see events like this instead of a ghost town”
On Monday, Siba and her friends were able to sit socially-distanced on blankets and paint while listening to live music performances at Lynn Eusan Park.
Upon entering, all attendees were screened for COVID-19 by being asked a series of questions and having their temperature taken.
Hospitality sophomore Elise Kloster recently transferred to UH mid-pandemic, so Fiesta Live also gave her the opportunity to see who else goes to the school.
“It’s cool to finally have the college experience,” Kloster said. “This is the first event I’ve been to, and I think it’s really neat. It’s nice to see all the students that go to school with me all in one place, since usually we’re really spread out and far apart.”
Other events throughout the week included a drive-in movie, which showed “Soul” and “Tenet” at the TDECU Stadium, as well as a socially-distanced water fight and a cultural fiesta called Loteria Night.
Viviana Zermeno, director of performances for the Frontier Fiesta Association, said her and her team worked hard to make sure they could keep Frontier Fiesta running while still keeping the UH community healthy and safe.
“Our board has been working tirelessly to make sure that we have a completely COVID safe, partially virtual, partially in person, but entirely (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guideline conscious event,” Zermeno said.
“We wanted to do this so that our community could get this morale boost that we really need, especially during a pandemic.”