7-12-19

By J. Noel Espinoza/RioGrandeInfo.com

Rio Hondo’s Bridge Fest brings history and the town together this Saturday.

A year after the first Bridge Fest took place to celebrate the re-opening of the yellow lift bridge, Rio Hondo residents hope to make the festival an annual event to bring the community together and businesses thriving.

Jessica Alvarado, a community volunteer and local municipal judge, said the festival started last year after the bridge reopened July 13. The bridge underwent a two-year multimillion overhaul by the Texas Department of Transportation.

“The community wanted to celebrate that the bridge was going to open,” Alvarado said. “(This year) We are also doing a ceremony for a historical marker for the bridge.”

Last year’s celebration was a huge success that people now want to make it a yearly event.

“It was a great event,” Alvarado said. “We had people dancing, we had fireworks, and we gave away a thousand chicken plates.”

Although this year the festival would have food vendors instead of free chicken plates, Alvarado said rides for the kids will still be free.

Rio Hondo Mayor Gustavo “Gus” Olivares said the festival is also a great opportunity for businesses in the community. Olivares said businesses suffered a great deal after the bridge was closed for so long.

“We saw that businesses were hurting in the community,” Olivares said. “We thought that an event like this will bring the community together.”

Olivares said the reopening of the bridge tackles jubilation and a better future for Rio Hondo.

“It provided comfort that things were going to be okay, that it was going to be better down the road,” he said. “Now it’s becoming a tradition.”

Ronnie Garza, a resident of Rio Hondo, said Bridge Fest will be the town’s main attraction from now on. Garza said last year they had only one band playing and this year they are having three bands playing free music.

Garza said the festival isn’t only for residents of Rio Hondo, but for the whole valley.

Organizers said more than 2,000 people attended the festival last year.

“We want to make it bigger and better every single year,” Garza said. “Not only for Rio Hondo, but also for the communities in the surrounding area to celebrate and have a good time.”

Alvarado said the bridge is also a gateway to get to Rio Hondo.

“There are two ways to get to Rio Hondo,” she said. “This (bridge) is a way and there is another longer way. This is the main entrance to get there.”

According to TxDOT, the bridge closed in Sept. 2016 and repairs cost approximately $13 million. It took fewer months to complete the job than the original 33 months. Built in 1953, it’s only one of two lift-span bridges in Texas.