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 basic military training graduation cer- emony 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 graduation ceremony.
The two chief members of this delegation, 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-profi t of about 500 local business, civic and community leaders. The king acts as the offi - cial 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 dur- ing Fiesta, according to the Fiesta Commission website at http://www.fiesta-sa.org. The El Rey Feo non-profi t, founded in 1947 by the League of United Latin American Citizens, determines its annual king through a fundraising campaign 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," fits 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 today and I’m proud of all the graduates."
Since 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," he explained. "This is a world-class celebration and it’s exciting for us to share it with people who’ve never been here before. It’s a wonderful gift that we have as residents of San Antonio to embrace our military during this special time of year. I mean, who couldn’t have fun at Fiesta?"
For additional information visit http:// www.fiesta-sa.org/events or call the Fiesta Commission at 227-5197.