MR. AMIGO SELF-DEALINGS, LIVING BIG, GO WAY BACK

By Juan Montoya
In the 1990s when I used to work for a county commissioner whose family owned a gift and flower shop in the Southmost area, I would noticed that come Charro Days, there would be an increase in activity around the store.
The likes of Cameron County District Clerk Aurora de la Garza and County Clerk Joe Rivera and other notables from Brownsville's high society would suddenly show up and discuss the upcoming Charro Days with the owners, especially with Viola, the older sister of the family who owned the flower shop.
Then I heard that Viola had been chosen to join the Mr. Amigo Association's pilgrimage to Mexico City to present the choice to the honoree that year. When they returned from Mexico City and that year's Mr. Amigo arrived, the flower shop was a busy place carrying out orders to the different events that were held in his (or her) honor.
It wasn't until later that I learned that the Mr. Amigo Association was made up of fun-loving people who nominated its membership from the community who they thought would help them raise money or could contribute as sponsors of the event. It wasn't, as I later learned, cheap. In return for a sponsorship, the flower shop would also get a few orders in from the association to decorate some venue where the events were held.
For the most part, these places were public facilities such as the Ft. Brown Auditorium, the Civic Center, or any of the halls available then like the Friendship Gardens. They would get these places for free. I never saw the association contributing to the city – say in the establishment of their own museum or scholarships for local students – in all those years of soliciting donations or charging for entry into their functions. It's been four decades of party, party, party.
Not much has changed since the association held its first celebration was held on October 12, 1964.
At first it was under the auspices of the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce, but as they principals began to feel their oats, they thought they would be better off on their own without the strictures of accounting to the chamber or to anyone for that matter.
Realizing that they could piggyback on the hugely popular Charro Days fiesta held at the end of February with its wall-to-wall crowds, they move the recognition of the Amigo to coincide with the fiesta.
Their website admits as much and says that the group in 1969 "realized that the Charro Days Fiesta, with the various parades, costume balls and large crowds provided the proper atmosphere to promote and recognize the Mr. Amigo honoree...The Mr. Amigo celebrations continue to be an integral part of the Charro Days festivities."
And so, after 44 years, the association, which picks its own board and members and doesn't have to give anyone an account of its finances, continues to freeload off the public and holds its for-pay events in an air of clubby exclusiveness. Yet, for all its officers and board's finer-that-thou airs, it relies heavily on the resources of the public to fund its week-long fiesta and by-invitation only bashes. About the only time that the average Brownsville resident see the personality of the year is when he or she is seen passing by in a late-model car borrowed from a local car dealer (in-kind, or sponsor), during a parade, a SombreroFest appearance, or when they throw flowers off the bridge during the Hands Across the River celebration.
For the rest of the week they pretty much keep to themselves in private soirees far from the unwashed masses. And they like it that way.
Take, for example, this year (2012-2013). Although they raised $21,000 in ticket sales at the President's Ball and Banquet, $39,000 in sponsor's donations, $7,570 in program book sales and another $17,340 in ticket sales to the Taste de la Frontera, the rest of their $105,529 budget came from "in-kind" contributions from public entities and local individuals. That's some $20,000 or more in free services, not taking into account the 24-7 Brownsville Police Dept. security overtime (not itemized). They get free access to the Brownsville Events Center ($2,684 for President's Ball, $1,740 for Taste de la Frontera), free TSC Mariachi (not itemized), and countless other expenses ranging from beer, liquor, tickets, in-kind income ($6,000), etc.,
That's not even taking into account the some $65,000 the association keeps in the bank for unforeseen expenses arising out of their week-long private bash.
That allowed the outgoing president Yesenia Patiño and her able assistant Sylvia Perez to spend lavishly on the invitation-only President's Ball blast. How about $4,900 for music, $3,100 for centerpiece and decorations, $14,102 for food, $600 for a sound system, $1,100 for linens and covers, and $609 for videos and photos.
You won't see the photos for this year's President's bash or the private affairs because it seems that the directors of the association chose to invite some of the sponsors, and "forgot" to invite others. So rather than incur the wrath of the lesser sponsors, they simply were not invited.
Come to think of it, neither was the public. Isn't it time we ask just what is it that the City of Brownsville gets in return aside from a drive-through of the current Mr. Amigo through a Charro Days parade or shunting them through Sombrero Fest. Or is it the walk-through and look-see at the police department for the boys in blue and their spouses to get a glimpse at this year's Televisa personality?