West Texas Fiesta opens Friday

May 3—For over 26 years, the West Texas Fiesta has drawn thousands of attendees for the weekend-long celebration.

This year, West Texas Fiesta President Richard Esparza is hopeful that the number of people attending goes back up to its pre-pandemic levels.

This year's West Texas Fiesta will take place from May 6-8 at the Ector County Coliseum.

"We're trying to make a comeback," Esparza said. "Last year, we opened up after COVID and it was right as they announced that things were going to reopen. We did have a good crowd but the attendance was down from previous years. This will be our 26th year."

The event was canceled in 2020 due to COVID.

"Now, we're anticipating a big turnout," Esparza said. We've been monitoring other events across the state and everyone's having record breaking numbers. even events here like at the Midland Horseshoe Arena, they're seeing live country concerts there. that's a sign of people coming back and wanting to go out again."

Over the years, the West Texas Fiesta has seen the number of attendees go up from 15,000 to 30,000-40,000 before the pandemic.

Last year, however, the event saw about only 15,000 as pandemic restrictions across the state started to loosen.

"This year will be our full promotion and we get a big boost from the city," Esparza said. "We've been advertising and not just in Odessa and Midland but also Hobbs, N.M. and Abilene. Of course, we have a big digital outreach too. We're hoping to bring in a lot of people from out of town."

There will plenty to watch during each of the three days including numerous talent acts and musicians that will be performing.

May 6 will feature the music group La Maquinaria Nortena and Siggno while Saturday will feature Los Kumbia Kings.

On Sunday, La Zenda Nortena and Los Hijos De Barron will perform.

"The biggest thing is that we'll have a carnival," Esparza said. "We'll have tons and tons of food vendors. We'll have tons of motor extreme acts like motorcycles in the Globe of Death. They'll do two shows a day. We'll also have pig racing. We'll have UTPB folklorico dancers and various events throughout the day. In the evenings, we'll have live concerts outside.

With plenty going on throughout the day, it can tough to highlight what people love the most about coming out to the West Texas Fiesta but Esparza says the concerts are the most popular.

"I think it depends," Esparza said. "The concerts are the biggest attractions. But during the day, it's more of a family event where younger and little ones can be at the circus or pig racing. It's really a family event."

Tickets can be purchased online at https://fiestawesttexas.com/?fbclid=IwAR2_j0nPOE9RqqrLSw8JMCzy4llQyDDm58eYmXxmbjDsSiH8VPm_xeOv2lQ.