BY JULIEN JUAREZ | The Mercedes Enterprise

On July 2nd, the city of Alamo hosted the Freedom Bash and Watermelon Festival, bringing together big names to have some big fun and celebrate America’s 250th birthday.

The event lasted the entire day, starting at 2:30 p.m. with performances by various bands throughout the day such as the South Texas Homies and Grupo Solido, and ending at 10:20 p.m. with a fireworks show and a performance by La Mafia that ended the night with a bang.

Due to the severe flooding during May, when the Watermelon Festival was originally scheduled to take place, the city decided to move the watermelon fest forward and combine the two events, making the party even bigger for everyone involved.

The Watermelon Festival got its start 12 years ago when a former commissioner for the city of Alamo, Trinidad “Trino” Medina, came up with the idea for an event that would bring together the entire community. 

Pete Morales, an Alamo city commissioner, recounts how the event got its start. 

“This event was meant  for community involvement, we have a lot of volunteers here, vendors from all over the valley because they know how great this event is,” Morales said.

The Freedom Bash got its start in a similar way, with the city getting together in 2022 and creating an event that could take place in July, since there wasn’t one already set in place. 

“Now fast forward [4] years later, and now we’re having our 4th of July festival,” commissioner Morales said.

This is the second year in a row that the city has decided to combine the events, which has allowed for significant spikes in audience turnout for the event, leading to over 10 thousand people in attendance for last year’s festivities.

A major focus of the event was on its “fun for the whole family” aspect, where the hope was to bring the whole family together to enjoy the food and music while browsing the various vendors.

“Its a family event for everyone, we want [people] to be able to get out of work… come by and relax out here with all their kids in a great environment,” Morales said. “We want to provide a great environment for the people that come out here to have a good time.”

In addition to the food stalls and live music, various local educational programs were also at the event, including one that encouraged students to participate in a summer reading program for small rewards.

“We have school districts that are here, we have local banks that are here, different organizations are here to be able to promote what they do in their communities, and educate others,” he said. 

With food, live music, and educational sponsors, the event attracted various people from all over the valley to join in on the fun. 

“Its a great event, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger every year,” Morales said.