VFW Post Welcomes Back Fiesta, Says Goodbye to Commander

June 28, 2021 - Downtown

By Ricardo Delgado, Staff Writer | San Antonio Sentinel

The oldest functioning VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) post in Texas reopened to the Fiesta public after a year-plus-long hiatus with live music for veterans and the general public while saying goodbye to its commander.

VFW Post 76 once again opened its doors for the 10th Street River Festival during a delayed and long-awaited Fiesta in the scorching summer heat, lasting from June 24 to June 26. Live music and several food and drink stands surrounded the old building on the 103rd birthday of the organization. Post Commander Pete Ramos, speaking to the San Antonio Sentinel on his very last day in charge, looks forward to his well-deserved “long break.”

“I'm a life member here, I'll always be here, and my heart is here,” Ramos said. “But will I be back this year? No.”

VFW Post 76, granted a Congressional Charter on June 26, 1917, serves as a gathering place for veterans and the general public alike to gather and spend time with their peers, the organization’s website stating it hosts veterans who served in “WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Afghanistan & Iraq.”

Ramos, who joined Post 76 after returning from serving in Vietnam for 16 months, went on to help create the 10th Street River Festival and it has remained a fixture of Fiesta ever since, remaining a hallmark contribution of his over 40 years of service as commander. A difficult year hampered by COVID-19, tangles with bureaucracy and damage from extreme weather leaves Ramos reflecting on his tenure but ready to move on and leave the post in new hands. 

“I started [the] 10th Street River Festival [about] 28 years ago,” Ramos said. “I started with one booth over there, and one bar [along with another]. And this is what it turned out. [Big] old function now. So yeah, I'm sad but I had enough.”

Ramos referred to the 10th Street River festival as the VFW’s “moneymaker”, the funds of which they use to make repairs on the post’s historic building circled by approaching apartment complexes and new developments. The building suffered a “quarter of a million dollar[s]” during the winter freeze earlier in the year, so the delayed Fiesta celebrations bring in a much needed source of income. 

Fiesta being delayed meant the Fiesta Flambeau Parade no longer passed right by the VFW during the 10th Street River Festival, meaning a much smaller flow of traffic, but musical guests like Ram Herrera, a close friend of Ramos, will still pack in the crowds, according to the VFW commander.

“I'd say we were glad, because we started Thursday — at four o'clock — there was nobody here,” Ramos said. “I was real worried because on a different year, every year the parade's right here, two blocks down. [...]they would just walk by the hundreds. This place would get flooded, we would make so much money."

With the city on the rebound from the vice grip of COVID-19, Ramos looks forward to simply viewing the festivities rather than engaging in the hard work of putting it all together year after year.

“I need a break and I'll be gone,” Ramos said. “Let them do it. Let them see how hard it is. It's not easy putting up the food booths: painting them, getting them ready, picnic table, everything. [This] is our moneymaker. This is our Christmas. This is why we're here. If it weren't for the 10th Street River festival, we really wouldn't have an income. A couple of years ago we made a million dollars here.”

For more information on the history and mission of  VFW Post 76, visit their website here.

Ricardo Delgado transferred to Texas State University at San Marcos to study journalism and minor in political science. He graduated during the spring of 2021. Email him at reporter@sasentinel.com