What Started As A Block Party Has Become Topeka’s Biggest Summer Tradition | Fiesta Topeka

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1933. Whoa.

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Meet The Fiesta Topeka Leaders

Welcome to another episode of Topeka Insider. We've got some special guests in the house today. We've got Raul, who is the chairman. Is that right? You got it? Chairman, let's go on the planning committee for Fiesta Topeka, and we've got Ariana, who is the head of publicity. Sure. Yep. Co-chair, publicity co-chair, there it is for the committee as well.

Come on. Thanks for being here, guys. Thank you for having us. Thank you. Tell us a little bit about you guys. Where are you guys from Topeka? How'd you get involved with Fiesta? Yeah, tell us about you.

Yeah, originally from here. Uh went to school at Topeka, Washburn, and then uh went out to Denver for about a decade. Uh, met my wife out there, and then decided to move back. And she originally wanted to get involved and then was just, you know, we're thinking about starting a family. And then she's like, Well, I don't know if I want to be in the kitchen at odd hours, so why don't you get involved and I'll, you know, be a silent partner. And so that's how I originally got involved. And then uh when Chris stepped down his chair, I took over this past year. Come on.

Moved out to Denver, came back to Topeka. All roads lead back to Top City. It's just inevitable. Ariana?

Um, so I'm originally from Mexico. Um, I was born in Mexico. Um, my family came here like 1993. So I when people ask me where are you from, I say I'm from Topeka, but I was born in Mexico.

Where in Mexico?

Uh Michoacan.

Oh, yeah. Mexico. Yeah. I'm nodding my head like I know exactly where that's at. Yeah. It's awesome.

It's it's kind of central, almost at the curve, not south, not northern, but kind of just central. Yeah.

Yeah. About from there.

What was it? My father.

He's from there? Nice. How'd you get involved with the fiesta?

Um, so funny story. Uh Raul's dad is my realtor. Okay, let's go. Uh his his dad is an avid fan of uh Fiesta Topica. Yeah. And so he gave me a call and he's like, hey, we're looking for somebody who's bilingual that can communicate with um the Spanish speaking community. Yeah. Um, and I'm like, sure, why not? Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm always up for a good challenge.

So that is awesome. Yeah, that is awesome. Are you bilingual as well? Come on, let's go.

Uh for those who don't know, what is the fiesta?

What Fiesta Topeka Really Supports

Yeah, yeah. What uh what is it? What can people expect? How long have you guys been doing it? Uh maybe if you've been living under a rock in Topeka, tell us a little bit about it.

On its surface, it's a cultural celebration, um, you know, Mexican heritage and traditions, but uh beyond that, it's a fundraiser for the Holy Family Catholic School. And so uh I think it's a major fundraiser. So it's ensuring that kids get a good education and that you know the schools are able to uh offer scholarships to you know a wide variety again, just ensuring that kids are able to have good education here in Topeka.

Yeah. Well, that's cool. See, I didn't know that element of it because I just I've always heard about fiesta as just kind of this big party, yeah, like every summer in Topeka. And like I have friends who I don't think are a part of that church and they're diehard fiesta, like you know, celebrants or whatever. You know, they're like cooking food and all kinds of stuff. And man, just it's it's cool, man.

That's how you know you're doing a fundraiser, right? When people don't know it's a fundraiser, yeah. They're diehards. That's right. That's a good point. Super cool. Yeah. Uh so what can some if someone's never been to the fiesta before, what are what are some things that someone could

What You’ll See And Do

expect? What's your pitch to get someone there? What what what do you do?

Oh, just immerse yourself. I mean, there's gonna be live music, which is always just fun to go to um in the summer. It's gonna be the hottest week of the year, regardless of when we hold it. Yep. And there's done on purpose. You would think, but it drives people to drinking, which uh spending money. Exactly. This year, I mean, we've had the carnival for some time down there at the parking lot on the north end, and we've got vendors along all along uh the midway there on the church grounds. We've got a stage. Uh a lot of times that's uh local uh dance groups, mariachi groups, more traditional. And then on street stage, we've got uh, you know, uh a little bit more lively entertainment, but uh it's uh you know five days, and uh beyond that, there's you know the the 5k we we just did, the kickoff event, the coronation ball, which you know culminates the the you know the two candidates this year and their royalty campaign. But there's just uh a lot to do, a lot to get involved with, and a lot to enjoy.

Yeah. Uh live music, carnival, vendors, five days. When when does it officially start? July 14th. July 14th. Okay.

Okay, it's just four days. Yeah, love it. Heck yeah. That's awesome, man. What is your guys' favorite part of I mean, I think for me it's um it's the music.

You know, I I I mean, music is an integral part of our culture, and it's not a party unless you have good food, good company, uh, and good music. So I that's what I look forward to every year is I want to see what bands are coming. I want to see what days I'm gonna hit the stage, what days I'm gonna have my dancing boots, um, and my dancing partner, and I will be there.

So what's your favorite style of like Mexican music?

I would say like cumbias and um música regional, so it's like the um the northern the norteño style bands.

I have some dear friends from Chihuahua.

Uh-huh. Yeah.

And been down there several times and kind of gotten immersed. I never learned more than just Caon Dovato. You know? Just enough to think like one sentence in maybe this guy knows Spanish.

Yeah.

And then after that one sentence, they're like, Yeah, this guy doesn't know anything.

You're gonna have to join the committee. And I mean, yeah, we'll we'll get you, we'll get you there. Uh yeah.

So we homeschool our boys. My wife is teaching our boys Spanish. We're like, we're we are going to learn this. Yeah. Uh-huh. So trying to trying to get it.

Raul was telling us a little off-air about the committee. It's a team. It is 20 people-ish on the committee on the committee. Amazing. That is crazy. Yeah.

The All Year Work Behind Fiesta

What kind of what is what does the committee do to help put on this event?

I mean, that's like you said, it's an entire team, and they have different seasons when things kind of kick up. So grounds may have it pretty easy up until now when they're transporting, I mean, literal, you know, the grunt work of Fiesta, the chairs and the tables and everything from a storage shed we have about two blocks away, uh, organizing, you know, as the vendor chairs um have everything laid out, the tents and everything that you see. And then, you know, the foo chair is kind of busy, you know, January, February prepping, spicing meats and all that. And then now, you know, cooking of the tamales and everything, assigning the captains for the upstairs, downstairs kitchens, the uh partnership chair who's in charge of, you know, getting money and in-kind donations throughout the entire year. Uh, I'm really just a gather of people information. Everybody else kind of does their own thing. But you can see like this this has evolved. It's in 1933 is when it started. It was a one day. A quarter of a block. It was it was a block party um potluck. Wow. Okay. Wow. And it just kind of came back by popular demand. Yeah. And it's evolved into this big thing now. To, you know, we've, you know, on top of that, we've got the royalty candidates who uh sell food uh three weeks each. Um and that's you know, entire families that are dedicated to that, you know, 11 to 7 uh for for one week. And then uh it's just there's a tremendous amount that goes into it that you know the the public sees this finished product, but there's yeah, you know, an immense amount of work. And I've I've wrangled these people in. And I I think they, you know, once once you see it one year, you kind of realize this this is a monster.

Wow. But and it takes all year. Oh, yeah. All year. So as soon as this one's over, it's immediately back to what are we doing next year?

Oh yeah, we kind of do like, you know, what can we do? How can we evolve, do better next year, some plans, but you know, we'll we'll start meeting back in you know October sometime for you know this time next year. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, that's amazing.

He said 93 years. This is the 93rd year. It is.

That's crazy. How does the royalty candidate

How Fiesta Royalty Campaigns Work

thing work? Like, is it like is it like a prom, like that kind of royalty candidate, like high school thing?

Similar. So it's eligible anybody 16 and up to 25, married, no children, and um started in 1939, I believe about 1998 was the first king candidate we had. Oh and so any anybody can run, it's it's a food sale campaign. Oh so the winner uh is who has the net most net uh sales. Cool. And so they're each allowed three weeks, and then they can do off-site. So uh Bimbo's one that uh requests candidates on a regular basis, but uh any company here can call in, request orders, uh catering, kind of carry out stuff. Oh and so that that's what the coronation ball is. And so we'll have a dance and announce you know the winner, and then uh they get their crowns and sashes, and you know, they're they're able to preside and have that over uh the Fiesta week. Wow. And what does that mean?

They're like presiding, they're just kind of walking around celebrating, yeah. For royalty. Yeah, yeah. That's awesome.

It's uh it's a big title to have in Topeka. Yeah, you know, we still have I mean I I was at the 5K race, and some of the um previous queen, you know, uh winners still wear their sashes. So I mean it's amazing. It's a big deal.

Yeah, I mean, you mentioned the Tetuan family, they've had quite a few. And uh let's go. Our food chair last year, Rose Arcee was uh queen um in her time, her daughter was queen about 2007.

She's you know my age, but I feel like this could be this could be like a TV show. Yeah. You know, where there's like family generations of you know, like we gotta keep it in the family, you know, we gotta keep the royalty, you know.

And I think for the a a lot of them it is because our current queen candidates, um, I believe they both have had uh siblings that have been in the royalty at Fiesta Tip Two.

Can you imagine if you are the younger sibling of someone who won last year, the amount of pressure that's gotta be on you? You better make this family proud. Yeah, you better bring it home.

There's definitely an element of that too. Yeah.

Uh

50,000 Visitors And Free Entry

that's awesome.

So the 14th to the 19th, five days, that's how long it's open for. How many people do you guys typically see come through the Fiesta every year? Is that something you guys track? Yeah, we about 50,000. Whoa.

Geez, that's amazing. I I didn't realize we tracked it.

Yeah, I would. How do you track it? Uh, I mean, I think through just different sales, um, that that's kind of in our partnership book, what you know, different uh I guess people that have helped us out kind of tracked for us. But yeah, but roughly about 50,000 come through the fiesta. That's that's gotta be one of the largest events in Topeka all year.

I mean, I would say it's the largest event.

Yeah, are there any events to get more than 50,000 people? I mean, to think that we have standards. What community? Maybe. Yeah. Uh but that's but what's crazy about this is I I guess correct me if I'm wrong, most of those people are probably from Topeka.

I think we get we get a mixture of people.

You and people who travel. Yeah.

I mean, there's there's a lot of families that um originally attended the fiesta that now have moved somewhere else and then they come back. And sometimes when they come back, their extended families come back. So I would probably say it's probably a big mixture of people from Topeka and outside of Topeka.

State of Kansas. And yeah, yeah, wow. That's awesome. Crazy. So you guys uh you sell tickets to get in, I'm assuming. Is that what it is? Or it's free to it's free to go. Wow.

That's gotta make it even harder to track.

Yeah, yeah, it's it's uh food and beverage. That's how makes its money. There's never any uh cover charge or anything to get in. Wow.

Dang, that's amazing. They got someone up in the corner who's just kind of counting. Yeah.

Well, I mean, more than likely, if you're coming to uh listen to music, you're gonna have a beer or yeah. Uh I mean, if you're coming to the carnival, you're probably gonna get some food. So I mean, either way, you know, whoever comes, um, they support uh Fiesta Topica. So I mean it's it's yeah, it's a lot of people.

Wow.

New Upgrades Like Fiesta Connect

So what what have been some of the biggest like updates or like new things in the last 20 years that like man, this like leveled up?

I think this year has been a level up for Fiesta Topeka. I mean, we have a the Fiesta Connect app. So we're really we're getting, you know, we're modernizing a little bit. So I think that's probably one of the biggest things.

Tell us about what is this app? What is it for? Yeah, our vendor guys. Uh they're the mobile munch guys. And uh they you know came to us with the idea and said, yeah, I mean, we we have a website, we have the social media pages, but if we can, you know, centralize information to be able to get it out to a mass audience, like why why not? Yeah. And so I don't know how long it takes to develop an app because why would I? Yeah. But uh JR, uh Zamora is the was the it was his brainchild. And so what usually is done within a year, he was able to do in about three months. Whoa. Crazy. And so through that, you're able to do, you know, track volunteer sign-ups, uh, sign up for the race, uh, see the Fiesta lineup entertainment, wow, and get push button notifications, you know, when somebody's coming on or offstage, uh, weather alerts, anything like that. So I know uh he's gotten the plans to do like an interactive map of where vendors are, yeah, what vendors are there so that you can see, you know, if you follow a particular food truck, uh things like that. But it was, yeah, it was something that was just kind of needed. And uh yeah, we were able to do that this year. Well, at the kickoff event, we had uh cocktails for the first time, you know, outside of just like the fiesta beer that Blind Tiger makes and donates to us. Okay, yeah. Now we've got handcrafted cocktails, and you know, that went pretty well, so we're looking to extend that to Fiesta. I know Phantom wanted to partner with us for a churro shot. They had uh a brandy that's uh an oatmeal cookie brandy that they had. Whoa, it's so good. Yeah, we should have done a taste test today.

That's what this episode should have had.

Yeah. And it just happened by accident that uh uh one the other our other vendor guy, Jorge uh Hernandez, just liked it so much. And then I think John, our our vice chair, said, you know, we could probably make something of this. And uh Phantom got really excited, and they're I think like trying to make it a thing now and take it national. But uh it's start here. Yeah, wow. Yeah. That's amazing.

Yeah, wow. Man. So uh man,

First Year Reality On The Committee

how long have you been on the committee?

This is my first year.

Okay, so both of you guys first year.

It's my first year.

What's what's the challenge of is it challenging that there are only three year rotations that like does that give you enough time to really like lock in and figure it out?

I guess we'll see.

Yeah.

I mean, because it's I mean, when I came into this, I was expecting something completely different. And it it is a challenge. I mean, I'm very new, you know, I'm I've always seen the final product, like Brawler says. I've never seen what goes on the back end. And it's it's a learning process, but it, you know, I will always be up for a good challenge. And I love the people in the committee. Um, I think we've all become, you know, pretty close friends, and I think that's what makes it fun. Yeah.

What have been some of the biggest uh uh like gaps in your expectation of like what you thought it was gonna be versus what it is?

You know, I thought there would be like um pretty black and white Just like a plan?

Just like a plan. Yeah, okay, yeah. You just step one, step two.

There is a plane, but there is no plan. You know, yeah.

The plan is there is no plan. Yeah, your first year kind of just drinking from the fire hose. Yeah. Things come at you, and you if you go to a meeting, you again, like I was all these guys were you know veterans, and so my head was spinning last year. All these guys knew ex the exact workings of when stuff needed to happen, how it needed to happen. And it was just in here, it wasn't like an Excel spreadsheet with right, wow. And so we try to offer a little bit of structure and some more continuity with things that we've done, but yeah, inevitably I think you just kind of have to go through it, experience it, and then you kind of can devise a plan going forward. Yeah.

I wonder if what if you could have like, you know, have you guys heard there are like apps where it's like AI, like audio record and it'll like take notes for you basically? Have you guys seen that? I have not. That was I forget. There's one I have a friend who uses where he'll like, yeah, he'll be in a meeting, he'll just like set his phone and it's like recording, and then it'll like give him bullet notes at the end.

Oh, we need to.

And it's like an AI thing. I wonder if you did that for all of your meetings for a year and then just threw it in like Claude and was like, hey, give me the Excel spreadsheet of every task we have to do all year in order. Yeah, if it was just like boom, and then next year you're like, now we just followed the plan. That would be great. You know, that would be awesome.

Oakland Location And Neighborhood History

Uh, where's the Fiesta held at? Hey, quick heads up. If you've been thinking about moving to Topeka, Topeka might actually pay you to move here. Seriously. You could get up to $15,000 to live and work in Shawnee County.

Check it out at choose Topeka.com. Now, back to the episode.

On the church grounds.

On the church grounds.

Where's that at? Chandler and Atcheson. Okay. In Oakland. Open Oakland. Yep. Roughly a five-block radius that it covers. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Dude, that's so it's not just a little block party anymore. Not anymore.

It's a multi-block party. Yeah.

But what's really cool is weako, if you if you head down there, you'll see the vendors start to set up, but you see uh people decorate their front yards like it's Christmas. Wow. Really? Yeah. They really get into it.

And I love the fact that Fiesta brings people into a neighborhood that possibly, you know, people wouldn't typically typically go to. And I mean, I that's another thing that I love about it, is that it's like, yeah, you're coming into our neighborhood and you get to see all these things that you probably didn't really uh ever be exposed to, like some of the artwork um around the church. I mean, it's it's phenomenal. There's a lot of history, not just about Oakland, but about Topeka as a whole, and it's I mean, it's it's phenomenal. If you guys ever get a chance to visit the church, um, please go look at those murals because they are they're truly amazing. Yeah, that's awesome.

I was yeah, I was at a funeral in the Tetuan family at that church, and it was my first time there. It was really cool. Um, but it is it's interesting. Topeka, my impression is Topeka has a larger percentage of like a Hispanic population than maybe your average town in Topeka. Is that the case? I think we're at 17%, but it's growing, it's growing quite a bit. Like almost like a fifth of the the city.

Yeah.

Yeah. So there's uh there's a large chunk that if you're not seeing this, this could be like an you're opening your eyes to.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Excuse me.

Wow, that is really cool. And when when you mentioned the family, the some of the inner workings and more of the arbitrary stuff is like when we're dealing with traffic plans, you know, the orientation of certain stages. It's funny, we'll have people from the city of Speaker's like, well, you got to give notice to these people because you may be covering a you know a driveway, and you know, you can say, No, that's that's a Tavaras house. They're fine. They know, they know this happens every year. Oh, yeah. Prepare for this.

Yeah. That's amazing. Wow. What is the best food at Fiesta?

Must Eat Foods And Tamale Traditions

Is there like a staple?

Like, I feel like people come a lot for the tamales.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, wow. I I mean the they buy that by the dozens. Yeah. So I I think that tamales are probably gonna be our number one bestseller.

Yeah. You guys sell out.

I believe so, right? Yeah.

We too. I mean for the most part. So you gotta you gotta come early.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you have to come early.

Yeah, yeah. That is probably my favorite part of Christmas time is the tamales. The tamales, yeah. So I have a buddy every year, he just drops off 24, two dozen tamales. I'm like, praise Jesus. This is amazing. Uh heaven has come to the earth. Do they make it to New Year's? Do what? Do they make it to New Year's? No, no, they left out 24 hours. Yeah, they left out 24 hours, and usually my kids don't find out that we ever got them. Yeah. You know, they're like, hey man, this is just just for mommy and daddy. So, you know, God bless you.

If you're getting tamales, he's a really good friend and he really likes you because they're a lot of work. Yeah. So unless I really like somebody, they're not getting it.

Well, that's why I looked it up one time. I was like, no, well, maybe we'll just make these. I was like, these take forever to make. It's so hard. Well, how how did that become a Christmas tradition that tamales are just kind of part of the thing you do?

I don't know. I really don't know. But it's as long as I've known tamales, it's always from December till January, what is, or February like third or so it's not just Christmas. It's like a whole deal of just tamales from December to end of January. Yeah.

Dude.

I mean uh in you know, in my region, it's tamales tamales.

How long does it take to make a dozen?

You don't ever want to just make a dozen.

You gotta buy it and do it in bulk. You gotta do it all.

So it's like ten dozen you're making it anyway.

If you're gonna if you're gonna make tamales, it's it's uh fruit of labor and you're gonna it's gonna be worth it.

So is it like a three-day thing? Like what?

You can make it in one day, but it's just gonna be a very long day.

All day, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you buy the two big things of masa and lard, and that that typically comes out to about uh ten dozen. And yeah, you're you're sitting there and I yeah, and I I would imagine Christmas time maybe because you have a lot of hands, you know, people come with this. Your whole family gather.

Oh, interesting, yeah, yeah, that makes

sense yeah yeah it's so is it just like a is it a northern Mexico primarily tamales yeah no I mean around Christmas time uh no it's I mean there are some regions um that do not do tamales um during Christmas but for the most part in Mexico because they don't it's gonna do tamales. Yeah the bigger cities probably don't do tamales you know like if you're from Mexico City maybe you're not doing tamales maybe you're you're doing you know a sit-down dinner possibly so yeah yeah yeah tamales worth what other kind of food do you guys have at the fiesta?

Enchiladas, tostadas, tacos and just a variety of styles like we mentioned regionally I mean with the the boon vendors that we have there along the street um you can find you know things from the state of Jalisco things from you know chihuahua um but and and it varies and you know we we've got a really diverse population here and that's that's the reason for it and it's uh you can just taste the the difference and I mean nobody's ever mad at that.

Yeah.

Oh okay I'm getting hungry you're still I know I have a question.

So one of the things I felt like that was pretty new to me I moved to Topeka six years ago and I didn't realize how much amazing Mexican food there was. And so not only do you have great like you know brick and mortar restaurants but there's food trucks everywhere. Do you guys have an opinion on like top three Mexican food trucks I don't think I can have an opinion. I don't want to hurt any feelings oh oh because you know so many I know so many could could you is there a way that you could list off like for somebody that's like trying to explore the Mexican food in Topeka what are like the top five places you would recommend what are just some you'd recommend yeah what are just off the top of your head like hey you gotta try these places.

So because they're in Oakland I would recommend a restaurante oaqueño if you guys have never been there.

I haven't been there.

No it's in Oakland? It's in Oakland. They are they're I mean in my opinion I mean it's it's authentic and your tacos are served um on homemade tortillas. Oh so it's not the tortillas that are from the grocery store. So I mean if you say homemade tortillas I'm reeled in and I'm there. So that's probably one of I've you know again it's what was it called uh restaurante oaxaqueño. Okay so it's right off of um like right off of the intersection of Golden and Seward.

Yeah yeah and what would like what's your go-to order what would you recommend?

Um so if you're looking to try something new new um there is this plate that's called a tlayuda and it's like a layuda tlayuda tlayuda it's like a it's I don't know how to explain it you have to see it. It's kind of like a big tostada um in it's uh beans cheese uh steak chorizo avocado um and some hot sauce some spicy hot sauce and then you get your bottle of coke and I'm sold. So oh yeah I mean that's that's their traditional from Oaxaca where they're from um but they have uh tacos um burritos tortas they have a wide variety um my second thing that I would recommend from there is their um enchiladas de mole okay so good so they're not it's he knows yeah that's one recommendation I got I don't know if I can give you a top five maybe off air but uh uh behind the subscriber paywall later like I said because because we are going to Fiesta Topica and they are in Oakland and if you're gonna be in Oakland that's probably one that I recommend yeah yeah yeah one one guy did tell me he's like anybody can can grill steak but to sit there and the labor of love that mole is if you can find a good mole yeah that that's a good spot. Wow yeah okay what it what is mole it's it's a way of cooking steak no no it's like a it's a type of sauce uh almost like a spicy uh people add chocolate to it sometimes but it's from the region of Puebla oh yeah okay yeah it's I mean it's it's very labor intense um there is I don't know how many spices there's like five different chiles that you grind and you add peanuts and like you said uh chocolate um lots of different types of seeds um I mean it's it's a big it's a big undertaking and if you're right and if you can find a good mole it is very very good yeah wow do you have any like other restaurants you would recommend?

Oh man I mean I'm about to there's a lot of bias in my mom's kitchen so all our listeners were going to his house later so that's awesome.

Yeah fun and to to her point I we had niece living with us in Denver for a while and uh she brought store bought tortillas and it was at that point that we almost kicked her out. We uh I I've uh my mom's recipe I just always made my own flour tortillas she you homemade all all your tortillas are homemade how long does it take to make a batch of tortillas not that long no I mean I I take a while but my you know 20 24 you know in two hours maybe so it's just flour and do you bake them? Uh flour water uh baking soda and uh and some lard and then yeah you roll it out like a basic like pizza dough and little balls and then you roll those out put them on a uh what was it a comad uh skillet yeah and uh yeah yeah once once they're done they're you know butter and down the hatch you're making me question the way I make uh my uh my uh burritos and tacos and coffee okay here here make are you could are you allowed to answer the following question as and I understand I you know you're you're overseeing this thing and it's like you don't want to pit anybody against each other I totally get it um Mexican food chains in Topeka I would assume maybe you have a little less loyalty to like chain national chain restaurants. So obviously bottom food I mean I would have guessed bottom of the food chain is like Taco Bell but then you got like you got like uh on the border is chilies technically a no on the border uh what if you had to say most authentic to least authentic chain restaurant good question what do you what are you going to I don't know because I really don't go to chain Mexican restaurants that's a great answer that's a good answer I mean I really don't yeah I can't so many better options okay who you got I I got taken to a Taco Bell when I was 22 because I'd never been before against your will yeah I haven't been since so I've been one time so I I can't really speak to I mean much of their food but yeah what did you get do you remember it's probably like a like a taco with like Dorito chips crunched into it or you know Mountain Dew baked into the meat or something something that that sounds about well I can answer this for them on what Topeka overall thinks of On the Border is on the border is no longer here.

Their Day Jobs And Time Demands

Oh yeah it went out of business yeah crazy yeah yeah yeah crazy okay tell us a little bit about you guys because clearly you don't work for Fiesta Topeka all day every day what do you guys do here in Topeka?

What's your guys' background so I I work at Evergy I just I'm a project controls analyst so I support project managers for construction and uh uh budgets and timelines for uh substations and power lines cool cool so they're building new substations new power lines and you're overseeing the projects of that at least supporting yes so getting with engineering and permitting and real estate to make sure everything's kind of in order on time pretty similar to your role here you're kind of a little bit a little bit orchestrating people yeah that's cool yeah that's cool um and then I work full time at the Bettis companies Bettis asphalt infrastructure um and I'm a recruiter there um so I recruit for the many companies um and then um I have a side gig so um I'm also a small business owner okay so kind of juggling that's a lot quite quite a bit that's a lot going on yeah what do you do? Um commercial roofing. Nice okay awesome that's a side gig my husband my husband and I own the company so I help him kind of you know manage the bids and invoicing and then how much time per week or maybe month is being on the committee for Fiesta? I think it depends on the week and what we have going on um and what's coming up. I think right now we're probably going into our all hands on deck right like some something's gonna suffer in my personal life because Fiesta will probably be at the top.

Yeah so this is being filmed what two weeks before Fiesta this will release a few days before Fiesta so you're about to enter two weeks of just nonstop correct go go go correct yeah yes do you guys go every day the the five days that it's it's going I plan to be there every day yeah I love that that was I love that their answer to that was like that's a dumb question we're gonna be there every day I love that well so yeah I guess one question is as the planning committee is your job like over once the event starts it's kind of like well I've done everything I can or you're there making sure you're putting out all the fires all week. Okay so you you like have to be there no matter what I'm publicity now at the week of the fiesta I don't know what I'll be you know I may come out publicity now yeah maybe taking out the trash maybe I mean uh that's real life right there that's real life I'm gonna I'm gonna do whatever I need to do to make sure that fiesta you know is is fiesta topica yeah yeah wow yeah that's amazing cool come on well we're excited about do some rapid fires get some questions yeah we kind of we kind of uh whet the appetite a little bit with our restaurant questions but we have some rapid fire questions that everybody who's a guest we ask them

Rapid Fire Topeka Favorites

just about life in Topeka um we already kind of hinted at one I don't know if you'll be able to answer this or not but do you have a favorite local restaurant generally speaking in Topeka?

I don't think I have a favorite favorite I'm a foodie so I'm willing to try just about anything once and I do support and I love anything local.

Yeah so I think any any local restaurant is probably going to be at the top of the do you have any like just super off the wall places people may never have been to that probably the food trucks on 25th in California.

Okay that's the recommendation I'm looking for let's go come on let's go I mean I think you know if they don't have a Facebook page and they're just there that's I'm stopping there at least once just to see what's a good measure is like hey the less marketing they have the less like professional branding if you see all the construction workers lining up probably the spot.

Yes that's that's a great recommendation depends on the time of year. So like right now every year I gotta go get uh you know my snow cone from Tad's oh yes yeah dude that is a great summer recommendation um I've never been there oh yeah I love it yeah yeah yeah after like a a a run or something uh yeah I always gotta go there dude a post-run Tad that's a great answer yeah um coffee I really love milk and honey oh yeah yep milk and honey do you have a go to coffee shop um I like coffee head yeah that's probably my and then I do like milk and honey too okay you guys are foodies you guys know all the good local spots milk and honey's great feel free to welcome us back to have a foodie episode oh that would be awesome we could try the cocktails the custom cocktails and uh get like a different dish from Fiesta that would do that that's what we should have done.

Okay we could just have tamales yes we'll bring the tamales Christmas tasting episode yeah we should bring this back oh put it down in your commentary I love that you're doing a home project okay menards Home Depot Lowe's where are you going?

I think it depends on the project for us. Um I mean my go-to is Home Depot Let's go let's go but if I'm looking for something that is um how do you say it like maybe I don't know less expensive then I'm running to Menards. Okay.

Okay. That's a great way to say so I I I got into woodworking. So I redid our closet and I built a dresser for for my son. Dang. So I menard I just I love the model we have a running feud.

Okay. Home Depot versus Menards he's Team Minards I'm Team Home Depot. I started strong we've what we're a year and a half into episodes and we asked every guest this question. For the first six months it was almost exclusively Home Depot for the last six months it's been almost exclusively vetting the guests before we let them exactly hey man before you can come in here are you Home Depot or Menards? We had a joke maybe we need to make this happen that whatever the guest said so like you know if there were only one of you and if you were to say Home Depot then I would win that day and he would have to go buy something from Home Depot that day like and prove it like on social media or something like that.

Like just a stick of gold or we thought one one of these days we're a year and a half in so maybe it's never going to happen but we're gonna get a little tally board and put it in the corner and just keep it ongoing for this very important feud. Which we have also talked about off air how we actually don't care that much but it's kind of become a thing.

So it's turning into our personality okay so you split on that uh do you guys have uh like go-to date night uh you get like a Friday or Saturday night uh uh and you both have kids yes okay so let's say you know the the in-laws take the kids or something like that you get the night off what are you guys doing we just had our anniversary but I we we have a one month old our first the one month we uh we already in for paisanos um for us um it's blank tiger yes blank tigers are go-to day nights oh yeah yeah that's awesome do you guys golf at all I swing hard in case I hit something that's how I golf I do not golf but I am going to be learning soon. Do you have a projected course that you think you might like?

Um so I've kind of heard split things on Cyprus and Great Life so I I don't think I could stay on on air but I think it may be give a recommendation's got a pretty good golf scene uh Cyprus is great I go to Cyprus all the time okay yeah I am there so much John that when I check in the guy shakes my hands how are we doing Mr.

Armbrewster? Wow it's bad yeah now it's gotten less bad since I've had a kid but yeah yeah they know me there. Yeah I don't mess around.

Did you know that Fiesta Topica has a golf tournament?

No we didn't what yeah we also do a golf tournament okay when do you guys usually do that? Friday of Fiesta Oh it's part of the event oh wow Friday of the fiesta so like it hasn't happened yet 17th I believe. 18th yeah which course is it at uh Cyprus I think so Jogo Terris is in charge of that wow heck yeah that's awesome uh how many potholes did you hit on your way over here today? Quite a bit. Quite a few yeah quite a few yeah I love it.

Let's go apparently there's an app now where you can submit potholes I will say work in construction I can't complain about the hand that feeds me so yeah I worked for the city for a while and then I work for Evergy so people can blame me for their potholes and their power going out now.

Yeah you love it. Yep that's awesome dude it's crazy I went remember that huge windstorm we got like two weeks ago I was I walked outside and I looked across the street and uh Washburn University is right across from our house and literally I walk outside and this huge branch falls and hits the main power line on campus. And so I thought we were about to I was like waiting for our house just to go and nothing. They must have their own but it's crazy just the line I was like oh dude it's crazy. So thank you for what you do man. We we love the people who put power lines back up. That's a great work you're doing. Yeah.

Volunteer Need And Event Details

Man well thank you guys so much is there anything else you guys would uh want people to know about uh Fiesta or what you guys are doing I mean I the only thing that I would like to say is that um you know it's been going on for 93 years.

Yeah um that doesn't happen just because it happens because of the many volunteers that are able to come and help and you know we're we're at a point now where a lot of the volunteers are older and we desperately we need help. We need volunteers to come and help us to continue this tradition. Like I said it's it's been 90 we're on our 93rd year. Yeah we want to continue it. You know the committee there's a lot of new faces in the committee a lot of young um faces in the committee so we're also always looking for people that are willing to work on the back end to make fiesta possible for the community I mean it's a community event um everybody loves fiesta um I want my children to continue to go to fiesta my grandchildren so I think that's probably you know one thing that I would want the people to know about uh fiesta topica is that we need volunteers and that includes volunteers to come help in the fiesta committee as well.

Love it. That's awesome that's a great way to end it.

Is there a social media place people can find fiesta information um maybe drop the app name again too oh yeah Fiesta Connect app and then I think it's just Fiesta Topeka across all the social pages.

Great and that's July 14th it's gonna go for five days uh what are the times?

When when can people you said a little 4 to 11 Monday through Thursday and then Friday Saturday until midnight.

Wow yeah awesome it's a party yeah sounds like it I'm super excited to go this year.

We're excited to have everybody at Gista Tobika so please join us.

Awesome probably Ariana thanks for being here awesome thank you guys thank you guys for having us we really appreciate it.

I'm gonna do whatever I need to do to make sure that Fiesta is Fiesta Topica 193 is when it started fifty thousand been going on for ninety three years. That doesn't happen just because it happens because of the many volunteers