Granaderos y Damas de Galvez and Battle For Texas: The Experience

These two groups joined forces to open the Parade by bringing to life the people who discovered and settled San Antonio. Spanish explorers discovered the Payaya Nation’s settlement at San Pedro Springs in 1661, and "Villa de Bejar" was founded by Spanish explorers & natives by 1718.
Los Granaderos and Battle For Texas gathered members and friends who love to share history to reenact the people who lived the stories. Together these friends collected key player characters who paved the way for San Antonio’s settlement: Spanish Colonial guards, a Spanish Colonial commander, a Spanish Colonial general, Spanish Colonial soldiers, plus American and Spanish militia men keeping pace to a cadence performed by a Spanish Colonial drum major and his Spanish Colonial fifers and drummers. Walking in front of the Spanish soldiers were two Presidial soldiers and one Franciscan friar.
Leading this historic Spanish sight were six individuals dressed in the attire of the time and region of the six flags they carried that once flew over Texas.
Thank you to these ladies and gentlemen for a respectable and awesome presentation of San Antonio’s earliest known roots!

La Tuna Ice House

Imagine men and women dressed in brown tights, cowboy boots and brown T-shirts with baby bottle nipples glued to their bellies. Now, finish that look with a cowboy hat adorned with a pair of handmade longhorns. Finally, include a loud “mooooo” and now it makes sense that they are conjuring up Samuel Augustus Maverick!
In case you’re still scratching your head, Samuel Maverick, among his other claims to fame (Texas Revolution), was notorious for not branding his cattle. His name became the source of the term "maverick," which means independently minded.

Angelina de Carlo Salon

Mary Alice Medina and her sister, Rebecca Medina, created an extraordinary feast for the eyes. Larger-than-life Frida Kahlo fashion models struck a pose on an elegantly decorated trailer end-capped with a large painting of Frida Kahlo by salon stylist Beth DeLeon’s niece. The fashionistas on their float modeled oversized round Frida Kahlo heads created by Rebecca and Mary Alice. Each mask bore large bright eyes, pouty red lips, splendid earrings, beautiful facial hair, and dark braided hair crowned with vibrant and enormous roses, lilies, carnations, baby breaths and tropical birds. In addition to the large heads, the girls wore fabulous modern takes on traditional Mexican fashion designed by several Angelina de Carlo stylists.
Are you questioning what this has do with San Antonio’s timeline? The Mexican Revolution brought us a lot of immigrants, which helped San Antonio become the “Mexican” city it is today. Frida was a child during the Revolution, but was later known for dressing in the traditional Mexican attire that was prevalent during the time of the Mexican Revolution. It’s a bit of a stretch, but there was no way the Parade Committee was saying no to this quality of artistry.

San Antonio Birth Center

Imagine a trailer float with an early German settler cabin scene. While a heavily pregnant woman is doing laundry she loudly proclaims, "the baby is coming, fetch the midwife!" A child who is walking with other settlers alongside the trailer animatedly runs around hollering for a midwife. A woman in the group comes to the child and follows the child to the trailer. Meanwhile, the pregnant woman is quite animated and, shall we say, loud. The midwife arrives and tends to the woman. Climbing under her skirt, she returns with a squalling baby. The new mother is ecstatic at the sight of her freshly born babe before she retreats into her cabin.
Yes, that scene was reenacted in the King William Parade. This birthing reenactment had most laughing out loud, but all would agree that it was a “what the heck” King William Parade moment.

Canary Islands Descendants Association

Honored as this year’s Grand Marshal, the Canary Islands Descendants were accompanied by the artwork of SAY Sí alumnus Martin Delgado. Martin created a San Fernando Cathedral sculpture to represent the first organized civil government in Texas that was created by the Canary Islanders.
These descendants of San Antonio’s early pioneers wore traditional 1700s Canarian fashions that were dynamic with vibrant reds, sunny yellows, deep blues and rich blacks. The Canary Islands Descendants proudly held hot pink signs decorated with colorful ribbons bearing the last names of the sixteen families who settled early San Antonio.

Texas Camel Corps

Two camels and their three humps marched down the streets of King William just like they did once in the 1850s. Well, sort of. Between 1856 and 1866, the United States Camel Corps used camels to haul military supplies between Camp Verde and San Antonio.
For the Texas Camel Corps, education is the heart of it all. The driving goal of the Texas Camel Corps is to share their camels in a one-of-a-kind setting that the public will enjoy and remember.
If you happened to witness the camels behind the scenes, it was a treat to hear them coo when their master appeared. Thank you to Doug Baum for caring for these beautiful beasts who sparked our audience to learn more.