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Frontier Fiesta has danced and scooted over the decades as the “Greatest College Show on Earth”—a moniker given by Hollywood heavyweight Jack Valenti (’46)—and later paraded on the pages of Life magazine. The student-produced revival of the old wild and wooly west was born in 1940 when a group of campus leaders got together, in search of a way to boost school spirit and raise money. The first Frontier Fiesta entertained some 5,000 spectators and raised $2,000 to help fund the university’s first student rec center. Although the party went into hiatus during war time, the event was in full swing six years later. During that time, the Fiesta attracted huge crowds—up to 150,000 including celebrities like Humphrey Bogart, James Garner, Fess Parker, and Kenny Rogers. The 1960 Houstonian yearbook said it best: “The spirit of Fiesta has been the spirit of the University of Houston.” See for yourself what keeps this tradition alive! Experience Frontier Fiesta 2007, March 29-31. Visit www.uh.edu/fiesta for more details.
Have a great UH memory for Then and Now? We want to know at magazine@uh.edu.
You Oughta Know  |
• The original Fiesta City Charter was drawn up and branded in 1952 on tanned cowhide and signed by then Texas Governor Allan Shivers. |
• For the past twelve years, more than $58,000 in Frontier Fiesta scholarship money has been awarded to UH students. |
• Frontier Fiesta treasures, collected by the UH Heritage Society, are on view at HAO’s Sam Douglass Library in the UH Athletics/Alumni Center. |
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