SAN ANTONIO – St. George Episcopal School has participated in the Battle of Flowers Parade since 1970 and is one of the very few to have second-graders on its float.
In a warehouse down the road from the San Antonio International Airport, parents were hard at work putting the final touches on this year’s school float.
“Every child rides on this float, which is very unusual (and) we will continue to have every child on the float,” St. George parent Krista Bragg Briones said. “It’s a great experience. The kids look forward to it, and the second-grade parents always know it’s float year.”
St. George Episcopal School is one of the very few participants permitted to have children under the age of 12 on its float. Parents have protected the school's grandfather clause by taking on the five-month project of building a float each year.
Roberta Frederick, a receptionist at St. George for 30 years, said the tradition started in 1954 when the school was founded as The Pilgrim School. The school’s first float, named "Landing at Plymouth," consisted of Pilgrims and Native Americans to go along with the parade theme "Pilgrims crossing over on the Mayflower."
Now in its 46th year, the St. George float, themed "Ice Cream Festival," is comprised of a rotating mint chocolate sundae, an ice cream truck that seats up to 10 kids and an over-sized banana split sundae.
Frederick said it begins and ends with the dedicated parents who take time out of their own workday to help build the Battle of Flowers float.
“I brought my child here, she rode the float in second grade, and I can tell you from firsthand experience how really special it is,” Frederick said. “My daughter is 35 now, and she has lifelong friends and I have lifelong friends from it that I’m still in touch with.”
For the kids, the parents and the school, the Battle of Flowers Parade provides more than just a celebration for San Antonio, but long-lasting memories that are worth every minute spent working on the St. George float.
“It’s just one of those things that you do. It’s a St. George tradition that we love, that the kids love," Bragg Briones said. "And our houses suffer a little bit, that laundry piles up, but we definitely want to put all of that into the float. It’s worth every bit of time we put into it."