Conjunto Festival Organizers Thank City

by Tony Vindell/LFN

The first ever Conjunto Festival held here in Los Fresnos was not a big money event, but organizers and supporters of the three-day musical gathering said they are pleased with its outcome.

Rogelio Nuñez, director of the San Benito-based Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center, said no glitches were reported during the Oct. 19, 20 and 21 festival.

The weather, however, impacted attendance the first and last days of the festival.

“We had a lot of telephone calls from people who were concerned about the weather,” he said. “They were hesitant to travel for a three-day trip all the way to the Valley.”

Nuñez’ comments were part of a report made to the board of the Community Development Corp., or the organization that provided the biggest financial support to the festival.

The CDC board voted last year to donate $5,000 so the festival could have their support as it relocated from San Benito to Los Fresnos.

On the festival financial aspect, Nuñez said they spent $35,843 to cover all angles of the event such as paying the 16 bands that played, the sound system, insurance, advertising, ice and T-shirts and ground fencing.

In the end, the festival made $2,598 after all the expenses were deducted.

Nuñez said he wanted to point out that Halcones, a conjunto band from Los Fresnos high school, took honors from both the audience and from the number of hits made on the social media outlet Facebook.

“We want to invite them next year as well as other school bands,” he said. “We are grateful for the support we received for the festival, from the police department, the city and from CDC.”

Nuñez said they are already working on this year’s festival.

Enrique Juarez, the CDC board president, said he was impressed with how well the concert was.

“I want to see it back,” he said. “I believe the numbers will increase.”

An estimated 1,500 people attended the festival.

Juarez then recommended to donate the same amount of money they approved in 2018 and the board agreed on the $5,000 figure

Nuñez pointed out that one of the concerns he heard repeatedly from some of the festival attendees was that they could not find a place to eat late at night.

“After an evening of music and dancing,” he said, “some of these folks like to go out and eat. They like to have a bowl of menudo.”