Packed house The Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center hosts its popular conjunto festival on Oct. 6-7 at Los Fresnos Memorial Park. The event draws thousands of enthusiasts who witness some of the best in the genre, as shown here during a past year’s festival. (Staff photo by Ray Quiroga)
NEWS STAFF REPORT
LOS FRESNOS, TX—The Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center (NMCAC) hosts its 30th Annual Conjunto Festival October 6-7, 2023 at Los Fresnos Memorial Park, 900 North Arroyo Blvd.
Admission is $10 per person, per day at the gate. Music begins at 5 and 4:30 p.m., respectfully, and concludes at midnight on both nights. Gates open at 3 p.m. on both afternoons.
According to organizers, the two-day event is a one-of-a-kind cultural program attracting over 2,500 attendees for a celebration described as the best in live Texas-Mexican conjunto music.
This year’s festival includes 15 conjunto acts from the Rio Grande Valley, Eagle Pass, Kingsville, Corpus Christi, Houston, and San Antonio. The 15-band line-up is filled with skilled musicians who continue to keep the conjunto music tradition alive. The line-up includes beginning musicians to older artists who are ready to bring conjunto music lovers to the dance floor.
This year, Los Tellez from Houston and 83-year-old Felipe Perez y Sus Polkeros from San Antonio will make their debut at the festival.
Also visiting the festival is San Antonio artist Joe “Gallista” Lopez, whose painting is featured on this year’s festival T-shirt and magazine cover. Gerardo Perez Barrera, from Ciudad Mier, Tamaulipas, Mexico, of Bajo Sextos Santa Cecilia will sell his bajo sextos at the event. Representatives from Velas’s Lowrider Hats from Toppenish, Washington will also sell their goods along with a number of vendors who will man food and beverage booths.
Finally, Mariaelena Villarreal, Hohner Accordions’ official photographer from San Antonio, will be photographing and videotaping the festival.
The conjunto festival is the longest-running festival of its type in the Rio Grande Valley, and one of two festivals within the conjunto music genre in the nation. The Narciso Martinez Conjunto Festival is the largest cultural production of the NMCAC, which was founded in San Benito on October 29, 1991, on Narciso Martinez’s 80th birthday.
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