SAN ANTONIO \u2014\u00a0Fiesta is underway in San Antonio, and that means big crowds. The celebration draws tens of thousands of people to the Alamo City, making it an important event for the local economy.<\/p>\n
The impact is felt even in some of the smallest businesses.<\/p>\n
The rain may have put a damper on several Fiesta events earlier this week, but it\u2019s not stopping folks from heading to a well-known store to get decked out in everything they need to say \u201cViva Fiesta.\u201d<\/p>\n
Step inside Amols\u2019 Party and Fiesta Store, and you\u2019ll see an explosion of color.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandfather started it 77 years ago back in the 40s,\u201d said Jeffrey Weiss, owner of Amols\u2019.<\/p>\n
Weiss decided to follow in his grandfather\u2019s footsteps. Amols\u2019 specializes in multiple holidays, but especially ones that celebrate Hispanic culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch as Fiesta, Cinco de Mayo, Day of the Dead,\u201d said Weiss.<\/p>\n
Supplies for San Antonio\u2019s Fiesta make up a big portion of the store\u2019s sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFiesta is obviously critical to our business. In the three to four weeks that lead up and go through Fiesta, probably accounts for 35-40% of our annual revenue. So it\u2019s super critical to have a good Fiesta,\u201d said Weiss.<\/p>\n
Although this year, Mother Nature is not cooperating.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re typically insane. Unfortunately, the weather has put a little bit of a damper on it. It\u2019s a little bit slower than most years,\u201d said Weiss.<\/p>\n
Still, that hasn\u2019t stopped folks from filling up their carts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were still a couple times we had lines of people around the building a couple times yesterday. I didn\u2019t expect that, to be honest with you, looking outside. So people are still in a good mood and ready to go and celebrate,\u201d said Weiss.<\/p>\n
Not only do Fiesta sales make up a big part of the revenue at the store, but the money spent by those wanting to be prepared for all the events trickles down to local workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe typically hire between 25 to 30 seasonal workers, from Valentine\u2019s Day that goes through until after Cinco de Mayo,\u201d said Weiss.<\/p>\n
The benefits go far beyond the Alamo City.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have people that work for us basically all year long making flowers all year long, and they\u2019ve been doing it in their families for generations in Mexico,\u201d said Weiss.<\/p>\n
The 11-day-long Fiesta is known as the \u201cparty with a purpose\u201d because proceeds from Fiesta events go to charity.<\/p>\n
Fiesta organizers estimate that 2.5 million people come to San Antonio just for Fiesta each year.<\/p>\n
That adds an estimated $340 million to the local economy. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Out of everything in the store, Weiss pointed out a clear frontrunner when it comes to the accessory everyone is buying: the flower crown.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sell well over 100,000 of these,\u201d said Weiss.<\/p>\n
Weiss said they\u2019re ready for business, rain or shine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2014\u00a0Fiesta is underway in San Antonio, and that means big crowds. The celebration draws tens of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[132,1570,102,138,6716,223,82,84,83,6293,27,26986,1569,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-263186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-ctv","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-el-paso","12":"tag-lauren-kendrick","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-san-antonio","15":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","16":"tag-san-antonio-news","17":"tag-san-antonio-what-you-need-to-know","18":"tag-texas","19":"tag-texas-editors-picks","20":"tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","21":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263186","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=263186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}