Selena Festival Leaves Corpus Christi In Search for New Home
Corpus Christi is synonymous with Selena Quintanilla
Photo: Flickr/hellboy_93
Corpus Christi is synonymous with Selena Quintanilla. The coastal Texas city is where the singer lived and where she died. The Quintanilla family continues to live there, and it’s where people can visit a museum dedicated entirely to Selena. That is why, for the past five years, her family held the Fiesta de la Flor in Corpus Christi. For reasons unknown, however, her family announced the festival will no longer be held there.
The family said in a statement that, “Unfortunately, even beautiful journeys must come to an end. In Selena’s beautiful spirit, the Selena Foundation has contributed thousands of dollars to organizations in Corpus Christi for the betterment of the community. The Selena Foundation is committed to continuing Selena’s belief that the impossible is possible.”
The Quintanilla’s did not disclose any further information. Is the festival still taking place? Where is it going to take place? Why did they decide to pull it from the singer’s hometown?
We have our suspicions…
In August, we reported that the family threatened to pull the festival from Corpus Christi, and it had to do with money. A couple of months ago, the tension surrounded the amount of money the city was generating from this festival and how much the Selena Foundation was receiving.
According to Corpus Christi Caller Times, this year, for the first time since the inception of the festival in 2015, Fiesta de la Flor did not bring in a profit. The festival generates an estimated “$10.8 million economic impact for the city every year,” yet the Selena Foundation has made less than $100,000 in the four years of the festival.
The low revenue for the Selena Foundation is why Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Paulette Kluge said the Selena Foundation deserved more — at least $50,000 more, which is the amount they ended up giving them. Perhaps that was not enough?
We can’t say why the family pulled the festival from Corpus Christi exactly. But we do know people loved attending the annual festival, and we also know people will visit it regardless of where it is held.
