JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, TEXAS –
King Antonio, El Rey Feo
and other Fiesta dignitaries gave Airmen a taste of Fiesta’s pageantry, culture and
traditions during the Royal Review at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland’s ba sic
military training graduation ceremony April 15.
The Royal Review – a military tradition dating back to at least 1950, according
to base records – allows Fiesta Royalty to tour JBSA-Lackland each April and attend a BMT gradua tion ceremony.
The two chief members of this del egation, King Antonio and El Rey Feo, are annually appointed residents of San Antonio who serve as grand marshals at Fiesta’s numerous celebrations.
While JBSA-Lackland holds 50 graduations each year, the Royal Review adds
some extra
pomp
to the proceedings and is one of many military-related events that
the Fiesta delegation attends, said King Antonio XCIV, Hunt Winton III.
“All our military-related events are special, but watching these
young new Airmen graduate makes this visit really special,” he noted. “We hope that people (the graduating Airmen’s families) stay
in town this
week and attend all the events, and we would hope that our Airmen just jump in and have a blast with our community.”
King Antonio is selected by the Texas Cavaliers – a local non-profit organization of about 500 local business, civic and community leaders. The king acts as the official face of Fiesta and serves as an ambassador during events like the Royal Review.
El Rey
Feo, Spanish
for “the
ugly king,” is
generally considered
to be the
common man’s representative during Fiesta, according
to the
Fiesta Commission website
at http://www. fiesta-sa.org. The El Rey Feo non-profi founded in 1947 by the League of United Latin American Citizens, determines its annual king
through a fundraising cam paign where candidates raise money to support educational
scholarships for
local high school students.
Darren Casey, 2016 El Rey Feo, raised a record-setting
$500,000 for the foundation.
His campaign’s motto,
“It takes grit
to be great,” fit in with
San Antonio’s military culture, Casey said.
“This is
Military City, USA,”
he said. “We’re
patriotic people and that’s what
we do here in San Antonio – we support our military
first and
foremost. I’m extremely humbled to be able to witness this
graduation to
day and I’m proud of all the graduates.”
Snce the Royal Review is typically the first taste of Fiesta for the majority of trainees, Casey made a point of mingling with trainees,
posing for pictures and shaking hands with several Airmen after the graduation ceremony ended. Casey said he couldn’t wait for these service members to experience more Fiesta events.
“We’ve got Fiesta going on and that’s the pride
and joy
of San
Antonio,”