SAN ANTONIO – The Harlandale Independent School District is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Cultural Arts Fair this Saturday with a parade, student performances and a new five-kilometer run.
The event, which is a point of pride on the South Side, runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the run starting at 8 a.m.
District Athletic Director Rose Ann Martinez, a Harlandale ISD alum, said the celebration reflects the district’s deep roots and the generations of families who have grown up in the area.
“I wanted all the schools on this map inside the stadium,” Martinez said. “We thought it was a way to showcase the South Side and just our little 14 miles of Harlandale ISD.”
Martinez said highlighting the district’s past and present is central to the anniversary.
“It’s important for us to just showcase the past, where we are right now and I wanted to include all of our schools,” she said.
Martinez said Harlandale’s history stretches back to the 1880s, when students attended classes at Mission San Jose. The history is reflected in the parade’s opening with descendants of the district’s founding families leading the procession.
“The descendants of this area start off the parade, and that takes us way back,” Martinez said.
Before the parade, Martinez stated that a Native American inter-tribal group conducts a blessing ceremony honoring the district’s founding families at a site near Mission San Jose.
She described the tradition as a way of honoring ancestral and indigenous history while keeping community ties intact.
“It’s generational, and since so many of our people are here in the neighborhood, stay in the neighborhoods, we get to grow with them,” Martinez shared.
The parade travels from Mission San Jose down Roosevelt Avenue to Harlandale Memorial Stadium, where the Cultural Arts Fair features student-created floats, mariachi and Folklórico performances, choir presentations and other showcases.
“It brings back great memories,” Martinez said. “There’s a lot of nostalgia here and all the pride that is shown on that day.”
Martinez said that pride is part of the district’s identity.
“The pride is something that can’t be taught; it’s automatically instilled,” she said.
Martinez also discussed the long-running football rivalry between Harlandale High School and McCollum High School, the Frontier Bowl. The schools first played against each other in 1964.
Harlandale High School’s motto is “LINSA,” which is short for “Los Indios no se ahuitan.” Martinez translated the phrase as “The Indians don’t back down.” Meanwhile, McCollum High School’s motto is “Ride for the Brand.”
The district’s celebration is broader than any campus rivalry, Martinez told KSAT.
“It doesn’t really matter who’s from Harlandale, who’s from McCollum, because we’re all sharing as one,” she said. “And you’ll be able to see it.”
All vendors at the fair are student groups, and the district said 100% of proceeds benefit Harlandale ISD.