Regions Field and the Birmingham Barons partnered with Fiesta to have Fiesta Night with Los Barons last year. We are gearing up for another fun event this week!

Last year, Fiesta was fortunate to partner with the Birmingham Barons for a night of baseball with a Latin flair!  Fiesta Night with Los Barons was the perfect prelude to Fiesta 2014 and was so much fun to pull together and attend!

Ronald McDonald posed for pictures with fans and The Home Depot mascot made an appearance too!

Fiesta board members and volunteers arrived early that evening to fill the drink cups with flyers about that year’s event.  Later, they staffed a table to pre-sell tickets to Fiesta and answer any questions about the festival.  Our presenting sponsor, McDonalds was on hand to participate in that night and brought along Ronald McDonald who joked with the crowd and posed for pictures with everyone.

Samford Students participated in the Parade of Latino Country Flags before the beginning of the game.

Before the first pitch was thrown out, we arranged to have students from Samford University walk onto the field in a parade of flags representing about 15 Latino countries.  So colorful!  The students were later on hand for a check presentation photo when Fiesta awarded $5,000 to Samford University for Hispanic student scholarships.  Carlos Aleman, Professor of History accepted the check along with students from the newly formed Samford University Latino Student Organization.  It was so exciting to see the students and have them participate!  And I have to say that just a few short months later, the Fiesta board asked Carlos to become a board member and he graciously accepted!  We are fortunate to have him on board with us!

McDonald’s Owner and Fiesta Title Sponsor, Santiago Negre did the honors by throwing out the first pitch at the game.

After the parade of flags, it was time for the first pitch.  Fiesta asked Santiago Negre, local McDonalds store owner and Title Sponsor of Fiesta, to do the honors.  Santiago and his brother, Russell, have been wonderful to Fiesta and they are back this year (2015) as Title Sponsor once again!  We are so fortunate to have them in Birmingham, not only for their Fiesta sponsorship but also for all the wonderful things they are doing for our community and city and always with such enthusiasm.

Santiago joked about his form and how he would throw the baseball as he went to the mound and then proceeded to throw out the most perfect pitch!  It was great to be on the field when this was happening and feel the excitement around us.  Santiago definitely made us proud with that pitch and we certainly let him know!  The traditional race of the mascots was interesting too.  From what I hear, the Hot Dog always wins and the Taco is left in the dusk.  Well, this year we had Ronald McDonald running a little interference for the Taco and it won!!!  That was quite a thrill for us, believe it or not!

Later we all grabbed a beverage – it was Thirsty Thursday after all – and enjoyed the game.  The weather was beautiful that night and the crowd was great.  Hopefully, we were able to reach some people who didn’t know about Fiesta and encourage them to attend last year.

If you are in town this week, come on out to Fiesta Night with Los Barons THIS Thursday, August 27 –  Regions Field at 6 p.m.  Fiesta tickets will be on sale and you won’t want to miss the Parade of Flags again.  We also have a special guest who will be throwing out the first pitch!  More on all this in my next post – Part 2 of Fiesta Night with Los Barons!  Hope to see you there!

Fiesta Board and Volunteer Shirts for 2014 – the color definitely made us all stand out in crowds!

Carlos and the students get ready to show off the flags of Latin countries.

Photo opp with Santiago Negre and Fiesta Board Chair – Matt Ennis!

Fiesta Board Members are ready to have a blast at Fiesta Night with Los Barons! From left to right: Vanessa Vargas, Cristina Almanza, Teresa Zuniga Odom, Chris Miller, Matt Ennis and Orlando Rosa. (Missing from the photo: Ashlee Jones and Freddy Rubio)

Fiesta Event Manager, Denise Koch (far right), gives last minute instructions as the gates open.