Fiesta Oyster Bake 2021 event canceled amid COVID-19 concerns

Stefani Montiel performs at Fiesta Oyster Bake in 2019. Photo: Facebook/Stefani Sullivan

To help ensure the community’s health and safety amid the pandemic, the St. Mary’s University Alumni Association today suspended Fiesta Oyster Bake for an additional year. The event will resume April 1-2, 2022.

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“I am sad to announce that we are canceling Fiesta Oyster Bake 2021 due to the substantial numbers of COVID-19 cases in our region,” said Joe L. Vela Jr., president of the association in a released statement. “We cannot risk impacting the health of our campus residents, alumni, and the community by scheduling the event this spring. We will return next year stronger and more focused on continuing a better and safer celebration.”

During the past few months, the event’s organizers have met with the Fiesta San Antonio Commission and Dr. Martin Adel Makary, a consultant and Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine. The St. Mary’s University Alumni Association, in consultation with University leaders, subsequently decided to cancel because of health and safety concerns, according to Pete Hansen, St. Mary’s Executive Director of Alumni Relations.

For more than 100 years, Fiesta Oyster Bake has drawn crowds to the springtime celebration. The event on the St. Mary’s University campus regularly draws 60,000 to 70,000 attendees. It is the largest fundraiser for the St. Mary’s University Alumni Association, generally netting about $500,000 for scholarships and University and alumni programs each year. Through the scholarship endowment, the proceeds are currently helping 70 students.

“As part of the University’s careful response to the pandemic, we have asked all our campus community members to care for each other as a family and pledge to take all necessary steps to protect themselves and the San Antonio community in which we live, study and work,” said Thomas M. Mengler, J.D., St. Mary’s University president. “We greatly appreciate the Alumni Association’s decision to support our commitment to protecting the public’s health by adapting this year’s Fiesta Oyster Bake plans. We look forward to celebrating with the members of our St. Mary’s and Fiesta Oyster Bake family in 2022.”

Fiesta Oyster Bake features top Tejano acts each year on one of the stages and this is significant news for Tejano music fans. Tejano Music Awards Fan Fair is usually scheduled in mid-March each year drawing over 100,000 Tejano music fans from across the world. The Texas Talent Musicians Association, organizers of Fan Fair, have not yet announced their plans.

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