TEXAS CITRUS FIESTA

The Citrus Fiesta is a two-week festival held annually in Mission to publicize the citrus industry of the region and to attract visitors.  It was started by John H. Shary in the late 1920s. A royal court chosen from prominent valley families includes King Citrus, Queen Citrianna, the Princess of Orange Blossom, the Princess of Grapefruit Blossom, a lady-in-waiting, Princess Anna (who must be six years old), and her attendants, the Princess of Lime Blossom and the Princess of Lemon Blossom. The king's and queen's attendants include the royal crown bearer and four train bearers for the queen's train, which can be up to twenty feet long. Twenty-two duchesses are selected from valley communities. Crowns are designed for each new king, queen, and fiesta theme. The queen's gown was originally made of by-products from citrus plants.

The first annual fiesta was held in 1932 with the theme "Coronation and Pageant of Citrus." The one-day celebration included a coronation ceremony with Shary as King Citrus I and citrus exhibits, fruit-packing contests, a flying circus, a football game, and a parade. By 1934 the fiesta was expanded to two days with the addition of the Fiesta Style Show and the Fruit, Vegetable, and Flower Style Show, which features costumes made from local agricultural products. By 1939 the celebration included an air show and a one-day school holiday so that Mission children could participate in the first day of the festival. In 1941 Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr., was crowned king and the theme was "The Rio Grande Valley Serves America;" that year the tourist parade was introduced. Floats in the parade typically use citrus rinds or slices in their decorations.

 

From 1942 to 1946 the fiesta was cancelled due to World War II. The fiesta continued to become more elaborate through the 1950s. 

C. B. Curtis carved a new queen's scepter out of an orange branch in 1963, and it became the first year that the Queen's gown was required to be all white and no longer had to be citrus products. By 1970 the Texas Citrus Fiesta had become a week-long celebration with a multitude of events, including skeet-shooting tournaments and the international motorcycle races.

By 1982 the Fruit, Vegetable, and Flower Style Show had been renamed the Product Costume Show to allow the use of other natural products as cover on costumes. The devastating freeze of 1983 that killed half the producing trees in the valley led to changes in the fiesta. The Parade of Oranges floats were allowed to be covered by natural products other than citrus, and the Products Style Show allowed the use of ashes and sawdust from destroyed trees. By 1989 the fiesta had been expanded to two weeks.  The fiesta now consists of a golf tournament, a fun run, a carnival, a vaquero cook-off, a host of vendors, bands/entertainment, and various other activities. 

The parade happens the last Saturday in January and is the finale to the 2 week long fiesta.  So, yesterday, I went to see the parade and participate in the fiesta.  This year the theme of the fiesta was old time rock and roll.  It is definitely an event.

The city of Mission closes down streets for the parade and hundreds of people line the streets to witness the parade.  If you wanted to take a chair and have a seat to watch the parade, you would have to get there early and stake out your spot.  I got there about 30 minutes before the parade started and I lucked out in finding a place to stand that was only about 4 rows deep in front of me.

They had quite a few vendors selling their wares.  There were a lot of food vendors which made it worth it just to smell all those wonderful aromas.  The teams participating in the cook-off were in a different area so just about anywhere you went, you were smelling some good stuff!

I've been to a couple of small town parades before. They are fun and remind me of a simpler time in life.  This was no exception.  It is nice to see all the towns in the area getting behind this celebration and participating in it.  The weather was cloudy but nice.  It was a fun afternoon.

You can see some of the vendors' tents as you enter

The train that took kiddos around for a ride

One of the bands

The area where the cook-off teams were located.

The crowd lining the streets on one end.

One of the antique fire trucks

The queen's court float - The little girls on the front are the Princess for lemon, lime, orange and ruby red grapefruit.  Each in their corresponding color dress.

This is a Latino actor seen a lot on one of the Mexican TV stations.  The women went wild when he went by.

No parade would be complete without at least one marching band.

The Lemon Duchess

Her dress came out pink in the pic but she is the Orange Duchess and her dress was really a orange coral color.

Ruby Red Grapefruit Duchess (Did you know that the Ruby Red Grapefruit is the state fruit of Texas?)

One of the Winter Texan RV parks even got into the celebration and crowned their own king and queen.

Another RV park getting in on the action

and another...... I guess the age of most of the Winter Texans fits right along with the theme of old time rock and roll.