El Paso Herald-Post El Paso News & Opinion
Delta Academy students builds Thanksgiving parade float
If you attend the 83rd Annual Oscar Leeser’s Hyundai of El Paso Sun Bowl Parade on Thanksgiving you may be delighted to see a Game of Thrones float marching down Montana Avenue. And if you are impressed, you have the students from EPISD’s Delta Academy to thank.
The students from Delta, EPISD’s court-appointed center of education, have once again teamed up with members of the Challenge Academy and art and welding teachers to bring to life a larger-than-life float.
Art teacher Vikki Groening and welding instructor John Gable work with the students to learn the basics of construction and three-dimension artform. The result is a product that delights not just the students at the school, but the spectators at the parade.
“The Thanksgiving parade float has become a positive and motivating experience for our students. They have felt tremendously proud of their accomplishment and ownership in the project,” Groening said. “The float has helped build their confidence in their own abilities and talent and had had a positive, uplifting effect on the students and our school.”
This year’s Game of Thrones float will feature a dragon, of course. But it also will feature a welded Iron Throne like the one on the HBO series.
Look out for the float during the parade. We hope it brings home one of the judge’s prizes!
Video+Story: Meet the Sun Queen – Elizabeth Vega
Ahead of the upcoming Sun Bowl Parade, Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl Game and all the events, officials with the Sun Bowl Association premiered a short video to introduce the community to the 2019-2020 Sun Queen, Elizabeth Vega.
Vega is the daughter of Angela Olivas and Manuel Vega. She is a 2016 graduate of Coronado High School and the International Baccalaureate Program where she graduated in the top 10 percent of her class.
Her philanthropy began in high school when she formed Packages for Patriots, assembling care packages for Fort Bliss soldiers returning from deployment.
Vega’s college education commenced at the University of Arizona where she was appointed as the Vice President of IT for the Eller College of Management Dean’s Council and was the recipient of the Rising Star Award her outstanding achievements in academics.
She was a Pre-Professional Academic Communities of Excellence (P.A.C.E.) member, serving as a mentor for incoming Eller College of Management pre-business freshmen. She has since continued her education at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Now a senior majoring in Marketing, she has maintained a 4.0 and has been named to the Dean’s list at both Arizona and UTEP.
Outside of her education and career goals, Elizabeth has made it her mission to volunteer her time throughout El Paso. She assisted in bell ringing during the holiday season to encourage donations towards the Salvation Army. She helped with the demolition and clean up for a new location for the El Pasoans Food Bank.
At the Make-a-Wish Walk for Wishes, she directed participants and cheered them on along the route. She worked with Rebuilding Together El Paso to repaint and repair the house of a community member as a part of National Rebuilding Day.
While Elizabeth has worked at UTEP and El Paso Locomotive FC, volunteered throughout the city, and served as a 2018 Sun Princess, she has gained a greater understanding of the city of El Paso.
Vega’s reign is now part of the long history of the Sun Queen and the Sun Court Coronation. The Sun Court has been a part of the Sun Bowl since the first-ever college Sun Bowl game played in 1936.
Coronation played a huge social role in the “Sun Carnival”, the week-long pageantry associated with the Sun Bowl.
According to the 1938 Sun Bowl game program, “The social side of the Sun Carnival centers around the Coronation of the Sun Queen with her Lady-In-Waiting and Royal Court of Princesses from all the cities of the Sun Empire and the Grand Ball tendered by the Association in honor of Her Majesty and Court.”
Today, the Sun Court serves as ambassadors for the city of El Paso. The ladies of the court volunteer at various community events and make appearances at the Marathon All-America Golf Classic, Oscar Leeser’s Hyundai of El Paso Sun Bowl Parade, Weststar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational, Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, Helen of Troy Charm Camp and many other events throughout the year.
From the beauty of the Franklin mountains, the richness of the culture, and the hospitality of El Pasoans, it truly is a place like no other. The Sun Bowl is an organization that exemplifies these qualities to every visitor while also giving back to the community.
Elizabeth is honored to represent both the Sun Bowl Association and the City of El Paso as the 2019 Sun Bowl Queen.
For more information about all the festivities and events, visit the Sun Bowl Association’s website.
Video: Behind the Scenes – 83rd Annual Oscar Leeser’s Hyundai of El Paso Sun Bowl Parade
With only a month to go before the 83rd Annual Oscar Leeser’s Hyundai of El Paso Sun Bowl Parade, Media Relations member, Brianna Perez, produced a behind the scenes video about parade preps.
The video gives a glimpse of the work that goes into building floats, while also showcasing the volunteers that make the Thanksgiving Day tradition come to life.
The Oscar Leeser’s Hyundai of El Paso Sun Bowl Parade is scheduled for November 28, 2019, with a start time at 10 a.m. (Mountain Standard Time)
The parade runs down Montana Avenue from Ochoa to Copia Street.
For more information, visit the parade’s website.
Oscar Leeser’s Hyundai of El Paso to be title sponsor of yearly Sun Bowl Parade
The Sun Bowl Association (SBA), along with Oscar Leeser’s Hyundai of El Paso, announced that one of El Paso’s most loved holiday traditions will be renamed the Oscar Leeser’s Hyundai of El Paso Sun Bowl Parade, which will once again run on Thanksgiving morning along Montana Ave.
This year marks the 83rd edition of the longstanding parade.
“As the title sponsor of the Hyundai Sun Bowl football game for the last nine years it was always a thrill to be part of this special event that I couldn’t even afford a ticket to as a boy,” said owner of Hyundai of El Paso, Oscar Leeser. “So, it gives me great pleasure to end the longest running sponsorship of the Sun Bowl [football game], to now become the title sponsor of the Sun Bowl Thanksgiving Day Parade.”
The contract with Oscar Leeser’s Hyundai of El Paso is a two-year deal with the option of automatic renewal after the two years are up. The previous parade sponsor partnered with the SBA for 14 years.
“We cannot thank Mr. Oscar Leeser enough for his longstanding loyalty to the Sun Bowl Association and to the community,” said Bernie Olivas, Executive Director of the SBA. “[Oscar] Leeser has been a great partner for us over the past nine years and we are excited to continue our relationship and to see this parade continue to be one to the best community events in the southwest region.”
Oscar Leeser’s Hyundai of El Paso will now supply the monetary funds necessary to put together amazing floats and the needed resources that assist in making this 80-plus-year event such a great success. Oscar Leeser’s Hyundai of El Paso will also work with the SBA to secure a Grand Marshal of the parade each year.
Past Grand Marshals include, WWII Veterans (2017), former W.B.A. light middleweight Boxing Champion Austin “No Doubt” Trout (2013), legendary UTEP men’s basketball player Nolan Richardson (2014), former UTEP men’s basketball coach Don Haskins, former PGA player Lee Trevino and the 1966 NCAA Champion-UTEP men’s basketball team (2015).
The Sun Bowl parade started its humble beginnings on New Year’s Day in 1936 and has stood the test of time as an annual tradition here in El Paso.
The Sun Bowl Association made the switch to a Thanksgiving Day celebration in 1978 and has been the tradition since.
“I am proud and honored to be the first to sponsor two of El Paso’s greatest events. I would like to thank the Sun Bowl Association for the great partnership, I am so happy to be able to continue to give back to our great city,” said Leeser.
For complete information on the newly named Oscar Leeser’s Hyundai of El Paso Sun Bowl Parade go to the SBA website or click on the link.
