{"id":259430,"date":"2026-04-21T12:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T12:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/259430\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T12:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T12:18:12","slug":"family-legacy-continues-with-3-generations-serving-bunuelos-at-niosa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/259430\/","title":{"rendered":"Family legacy continues with 3 generations serving bu\u00f1uelos at NIOSA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patti Doyle Anderson remembers stacking bu\u00f1uelos at A Night In Old San Antonio<\/a> when Lyndon B. Johnson<\/a> was president.<\/p>\n

She arrived at La Villita in 1967 to help her mother, Rosemary Doyle, serve crispy fried tortillas dusted with cinnamon sugar. Bu\u00f1uelos sold for a quarter apiece from a flower-festooned booth.<\/p>\n

Ten presidential administrations later, Anderson and her sister, Sharon Doyle, are making final preparations for their bu\u00f1uelos\u00a0booth at NIOSA, which runs today through Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a family affair,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cI take Tuesday and Thursday and Sharon takes Wednesday and Friday. It\u2019s wonderful because my sister and I have instilled in our families the importance of giving back. It\u2019s in their blood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Patti Doyle Anderson at her family home near Lady Bird Johnson Park on April 16, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Anderson\u2019s daughters, Kristi and Megan, and Doyle\u2019s daughter, Katelin Kindla, represent the third generation of family workers at the booth. Kindla says her 3-month-old daughter, McKenzie, will become a fourth generation volunteer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I get too old to hobble around, our girls will take over,\u201d said Anderson, 70. \u201cIt\u2019s a continuing legacy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The legacy began one year before the Tower of the Americas was completed. NIOSA volunteer Peggy Penshorn<\/a> asked her friend Rosemary Doyle to help her run the bu\u00f1uelos booth. Doyle agreed and brought along daughters Patti and Kathy Doyle Thomas. Sharon and another sister, Peggy Doyle Mitchell, came to the booth later.<\/p>\n

In 1981, Penshorn became president of the Conservation Society of San Antonio<\/a> and Rosemary ascended to booth chair, a position she held for 35 years. When Rosemary stepped down at age 85, Sharon took over as chair and Patti as vice chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing it for so long it is second nature to us,\u201d said Sharon, 67. \u201cFiesta is fiesta. We\u2019ve had other booths, like a beer booth for many years, but we always gravitate back to the bu\u00f1uelos booth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Sharon Doyle with her 3-month-old granddaughter Mackenzie, who Doyle says will be the next generation to carry on the tradition of being a NIOSA vendor. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Rosemary, the 95-year-old family matriarch, now celebrates Fiesta from Wholehearted Senior Living near Patti and Sharon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Friday, the four Doyle daughters spent the afternoon watching \u00a0folkl\u00f3rico dancers and eating bu\u00f1uelos with her,\u201d Sharon said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bu\u00f1uelos booth dates back to 1938 when NIOSA was called the \u201cIndian Festival<\/a>,\u201d a one-night fall street fair to benefit the Conservation Society. Ten years later, the festival was held during Fiesta for the first time and called A Night In Old San Antonio.<\/p>\n

At the first NIOSA, the bu\u00f1uelos booth was part of the Mexican Market, an area that sold bean tacos and other South of the Border fare. Like the Doyle family, today\u2019s volunteers at the bean taco booth arrive early, stay late and revel in the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had people from all over the world come to NIOSA for the bean taco,\u201d said bean taco booth chairman Gene Padilla. \u201cThey say they read about it in the newspaper or online. I love it. The fact that the bean taco booth is one of the original booths at NIOSA, it makes you feel like you\u2019re part of history and you want to keep it going.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A plate of mini bu\u00f1uelos from The Bu\u00f1uelo Factory, a smaller version of the treat sold at NIOSA. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Padilla\u2019s volunteers make the beans from scratch. The Bu\u00f1uelo Factory<\/a> supplies NIOSA with the Mexican fried dough treats. In the late 1960s, the bu\u00f1uelos were made by machine at Hemisfair. In those halcyon days, Anderson recalls, she volunteered as a middle school student.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sold thousands of bu\u00f1uelos every night,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her younger sister arrived at NIOSA dressed like a flower child with artificial blooms in her hair.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember yelling, \u2018Bu\u00f1uelos for sale!,\u201d Sharon said. \u201cIt was like a family outing with lots of people hitting everybody in the head with cascarones. Back then, we could go get a horseshoe sausage or get chicken. You could just walk around NIOSA because the crowds were not as thick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Patti Doyle Anderson admires an original Fiesta \u201981 poster designed by local San Antonio artist Jesse Trevino who was commissioned to create\u00a0the first Fiesta poster, as seen above, in 1981. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

The crowds grew. Traffic stalled around NIOSA grounds. Parking became a challenge even for volunteers. One year, the sisters drove to La Villita after the Battle of Flowers Parade, looking for a place to park. The crush of idling cars prompted a vow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re never doing this again,\u201d Sharon said.<\/p>\n

The sisters now check into a hotel and spend part of Fiesta, living downtown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just enjoy ourselves,\u201d Sharon said. \u201cWe do touristy stuff.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sisters have been busy. They celebrated Fiesta with Rosemary on Friday, helped build the bu\u00f1uelos booth on Saturday and decorated it on Sunday with an assist from other volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese traditions mean everything to us,\u201d Sharon said. \u201cWe love sharing and continuing them with our daughters and nieces and keeping Fiesta alive for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patti Doyle Anderson remembers stacking bu\u00f1uelos at A Night In Old San Antonio when Lyndon B. Johnson was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[17519,97280,51316,7185,4808,97281,34182,97282,97283,82,84,83,97284,97285,92,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-259430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-battle-of-flowers-parade","9":"tag-bean-tacos","10":"tag-conservation-society-of-san-antonio","11":"tag-fiesta","12":"tag-lyndon-b-johnson","13":"tag-night-in-old-san-antonio","14":"tag-niosa","15":"tag-patti-anderson","16":"tag-peggy-penshorn","17":"tag-san-antonio","18":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","19":"tag-san-antonio-news","20":"tag-sharon-doyle","21":"tag-the-bunuelo-factory","22":"tag-top-story","23":"tag-typefeature"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}