COMMUNITY EVENT
New Tejano music festival Fiesta San Marcos sings opening note
AJ Castillo has lived the life of the Tejano music industry for decades – at the very least since he won the Tejano Music Awards Best New Male Artist in 2010. He lit up Austin, his hometown, with his unique accordion sound. The city even named September 1, 2016 as AJ Castillo Day.
Now, he has moved to San Marcos, opened the state-of-the-art Redwood Studios and wants to bring that experience to his new hometown. That is how Fiesta San Marcos was born.
“I wanted to throw a festival here at the beautiful Plaza Park and introduce the Latino demographic here to this place,” Castillo said. “… I just wanted to throw a festival for them, celebrating the art and pushing the culture forward.”
On Saturday, what Cas- tillo hopes is the first of many festivals was held. Multiple acclaimed Tejano bands and musicians played including Castillo himself, Jaime de Anda, Mike Gonzalez and the Iconiczz, Los Desperadoz and Da Krazy Pimpz.
The event was hosted in conjunction with the Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce.
“We’re trying to provide some entertainment and music that a lot of folks here in the community may not be able to get here locally and have to go someplace else,” JR Gonzales, executive vice chair of the Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce, said. “… The actual intent is not necessarily to start a whole new wave or movement, but actually to provide some much needed entertainment to the Latino community here in San Marcos and Central Texas.”
The TAMACC assisted with the event through their nonprofit educational foundation, which was perfect for Castillo as well.
“AJ is actually a former school teacher,” Gonzales said. “…He is community minded. He wants to give back. So this is a venue to practice his skill set, but also to give back to the community in the form of music but also hopefully monetarily. Probably not this first year, but in future years we are hoping that some of the proceeds from the event goes back to the community at the school district level.”
For more information about the festival, visit fiestasanmarcos. org.
Photos courtesy of Mariaelena Villarreal/Tejano Nation
