Fiestas Patrias of Austin

Description

In the late 70's, Mr. Velasquez saw a need in the Mexican-American community to host the annual Diez y Seis de Septiembre celebration. For many years the annual Diez y Seis fiesta was held at Parque Zaragosa in east Austin. This event began as a private venture to resurrect the tradition of the celebration, but eventually we were able to receive nonprofit status to provide support to various programs for our youth and community. The goals of Fiestas Patrias of Austin are to preserve and promote the Mexican-American culture, to provide scholarships for college bound Hispanics, and to grant funding for youth programs. Since 1978, Fiestas Patrias has distributed thousands of dollars back into the Austin community for youth programs, scholarships, and community projects. Over the past thirty years Fiestas Patrias has provide the Austin community with over $500,000 in contributions for scholarships, youth programs, community projects. With a continuing rise in the popularity of our annual Diez y Seis de Septiembre fiesta and now with the addition of a Cinco de Mayo fiesta we look forward to a successful 2011 year. Addressing the needs of the youth in our community is of importance to Fiestas Patrias. Our youth must have access to extracurricular activities that promote camaraderie, di