Fiesta is less than a week away and its time to prepare for all the fun and excitement.  The best way to get in the Fiesta spirit is to attend the Opening Ceremonies Friday morning at 9 a.m. in Alamo Plaza.  This year's special guests are Sen. John Cornyn and Texas First Lady Anita Perry.  They will join Fiesta President John Steen and many other local guests to kick off the ten day festival.

Of course there's more than speeches that make the Opening Ceremonies a special event.  All the military ambassadors and Fiesta royalty will be in attendance, including Billy Atwell, King Antonio LXXXVI and Fernando Reyes, El Rey Feo LX.  Those two kings will help kick off the week of casual dress by cutting the tie and cracking a cascaron with the presidents of the Greater San Antonio and Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.

But probably the best reason to come to Alamo Plaza at such an early hour on that first Friday of Fiesta is the exchange of medals.  Yes, people start lining up at 7:30 a.m. to trade medals and look for new and exciting ones to add to their collections.  Medal trading before the Opening Ceremonies has become one of Fiesta's informal traditions as people look for the formal medals of the military to the outlandish styles of pooches, margaritas and cockroaches.

At the end of the festivities the crowd gets into the act by annointing each other with confetti from cascarones provided by the Fiesta Commission.  It's a great way to start the week of fun.  See you there.