By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
Del Rio’s inaugural Cumbia de la Flor Fest, a celebration of the life and music of Selena Quintanilla, is coming this weekend.
This will be a free event Saturday, April 29 at the Del Rio Civic Center.
The festival is scheduled for 3 to 8 p.m. and will bring together local artists and vendors to honor the “Queen of Tejano music.”
Quintanilla, more commonly known by just her first name Selena, was famous for her music and fashion choices during the late 20th century. Selena was killed March 31, 1995 at the age of 23 by a gunshot from Yolanda Saldivar, the president of her fan club.
The festival is being presented by ML Avenue (a local party supply and rental shop) and was spearheaded by Matthew LeBroke. He said he grew up listening to her music and has wanted to bring people together to celebrate the late artist and her life.
“These kinds of celebrations are usually far away, so I wanted to bring this to Del Rio for the citizens that cannot travel out of town; it is a way to pay respect to her and to do something cool for the community,” Lebroke said.
Selena still holds a special place in the hearts of many Del Rioans. She performed here in 1993 and videos from that performance can be found on websites such as YouTube.
There will be free activities such as painting classes and a photo booth, and food vendors such as Cardenas’ Funnel Cakes, El Toston Puertorrican Food and D&A Hibachi Express LLC. All of them will be serving up their unique foods. Additional vendors, including Koko Avenue Handmade, Jupiter Jazz and Caliche Dreams, will be selling jewelry and items inspired by Selena’s fashion choices.
Additional music will be performed by local artists Rocio Guerrero, Isabella Castillo, and DJ Paul Lomas.
Two costume contests inspired by Selena will be held for both kids and adults, and participants can enter and win gift bags. An auction will also be held for an art piece inspired by Selena made by Ruben Heredia, an artist from Acuña.
The festival will end with a screening of the 1997 film “Selena” starting at 8 p.m. The winners of the costume contests will be announced before the movie starts.
Cumbia de la Flor Fest will be the first big event in Del Rio to celebrate Selena’s legacy, LeBroke said.
