We love going to local festivals and events and we’ve passed that on to our kids. If you were to ask our kids if they want to go to a “festi-bull” and they will smile ear-to-ear and say “Yes!” They know to expect fun, food and people. Thankfully San Antonio has several annual events we can enjoy.
The Texas Folklife Festival is run by the Institute of Texan Cultures which is an extension of the University of Texas at San Antonio. The festival is modeled after the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and is a celebration of all the different cultures represented in San Antonio and South Texas.
I’ve gone to the Folklife Festival since I was a kid. Amanda and I went to the festival in 2002 before we were married.
With some friends at the 2002 Folklife Festival
This year we took the kids. We got a Groupon so the admission was discounted and the kids were free. We knew it would be hot so we tried to go before noon, but the heat had already arrived.
The festival is held on the grounds of HemisFair Park, in and around the Institute’s building. It’s split up by ethnicity and has booths with food, crafts, exhibits, shopping and dances. There is so much to see and do that we ended up spending over five hours there!
Food
Each ethnic area has its own food booths. We love to travel, so the ability to food-travel by walking between different booths is a special treat for us.
Our first food purchase was a good ol’ Turkey Leg. Annabelle really enjoyed the novelty of walking around with this huge piece of yummy meat! We also tried Belgian waffle with ice cream, fries and beer, Amanda’s first Falafel, Lebanese meat on a stick, samosas from Bahrain and Greek gyros.
Dancing
There are several stages situated throughout the grounds that have all types of dance groups. Roman got a chance to join some Irish dancers. The kids also enjoyed seeing Folclorico Dancers, Peruvian dancers, Hawaiian hula dancers, and cloggers. Annabelle started crying when we left the German dancers as she wanted to keep watching.
Roman picked the pretty blonde as a partner
Folklorico Dancers
Later a few cloggers danced to Cee Lo Green’s “Forget You”
Exhibits
Inside the Institute there were many exhibits of different nationalities and their impact on the history of South Texas. Amanda enjoyed reading the Norwegian exhibit since that is her heritage.
Amanda’s Heritage!
Annabelle spent a long time at a Girl Scout table doing crafts. While Annabelle was doing that Roman and I inspected a pioneer garden outside of a log cabin. I explained to him that the fruits and vegetables he likes to eat come from plants that grow in the ground. Zander took the opportunity to sleep.
Roman learned where corn comes from
Waffles, ice cream and beer
We Love Texas!
Spinning in a large strawberry. What could go wrong?
After a long, hot, fun day the kids passed out in the car. We ended our fun day with blanked+pillow palettes, home made popcorn and watching “The Secret of Arrietty”.
