Aransas Pass couples celebrate enduring love at Saltwater Mardi Gras festival

The 5th Annual Saltwater Mardi Gras in Aransas Pass brought the community together for festivities and love.

ARANSAS PASS, Texas — The 5th Annual Saltwater Mardi Gras is bringing beads and big crowds to Aransas Pass but this year, there’s also a little extra love in the air. Some couples are celebrating their relationships while taking part in the coastal festivities. 

Saltwater Mardi Gras kicked off its annual celebration with a parade but the smell of gumbo wasn’t the only thing in the coastal air.

High school sweethearts Linda and Tomas Arismendez have been married for 43 years and have three children. This year, Valentine’s Day looks a little different.

“I’m actually representing the police department here in Aransas in our booth and I volunteered my husband to come and help us this morning to put up the tent and help us decorate and whatnot,” Linda said. 

Edel and Fred Deases also joined in the celebration taking part in the parade.

“This is great. It’s local supporting the community. We don’t have a dog in the fight as far as a business or anything. We’re just citizens trying to participate and help the community. So yeah, we enjoy this kind of stuff,” Edel said. “We  believe you need to get back to those small towns, particularly, so we had fun in the parade and we’ll stay here and have the cook-off and stay all day.”

They’ve been married nearly 35 years and have two children. Fred said their love story began at the old Aransas Pass hospital.

” I remember the day she walked in and two years later she walked in for an interview at the hospital for a job and the rest is history, yeah, and our first date was at the Pizza Hut here in Aransas, ” Fred said. “It was the only thing open after I got off work at 11 o’clock at night.”

When asked the secret to a lasting marriage,

“Work it out,” Tomas said.

“I’m a very patient wife,” Linda said. 

“We spend a lot of time together and we don’t take each other for granted, and I think that’s the secret respect and then just spending time together and never forget the reason you fell in love and things are hard. But never forget that reason,” Fred said.