San Gabriel Mission Fiesta

Father John Molyneux, Queen Phyllis Battaglia and her escort Tristan Musa rang the famous bells at the San Gabriel Mission to invite the public to join them for the 248th Mission Fiesta celebrated on August 30th, August 31st and September 1st.

The event features a parade led by the Knights of Columbus, Boy Scouts from Troop 261, the Royal Court, Father John, Father Alex, Father Gerry, Father Ray and Father Jim, San Gabriel Mayor Jason Pu and members of the parish who walked to the main stage for the Blessing of the Fair Grounds.

Father John welcome the residents, visitors, Knights of Columbus, Boy Scouts, the Royal Court and members of the parish to this very special celebration of the 248th San Gabriel Mission Fiesta. He is looking forward to the 250th Fiesta.

Father Alex welcomed the guests to this event in Spanish.

Father Gerry welcomed the guests to this special event.

San Gabriel Mayor Jason Pu welcomed everyone to the San Gabriel Mission Fiesta that is 248 year old. He was happy to see you are here today. He made a presentation to the San Gabriel Mission in honor of the fiesta from the City Council.

Father Ray accepted the proclamation from Mayor Pu on behalf of the parish and welcomed all of the guests. Enjoy this event.

The Blessing included several prayers in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and ‎Filipino some of the languages spoken in the parish.

Father John asked God to bless all of the volunteers working at the fiesta.  He asked God to bless everyone here. He blessed the water which several priests, members of the Royal Court and altar servers walked around the grounds blessing the guests, the booths, the carnival rides and game booths.

Princess Abigail Platon with her Escort Antonio Robles, Queen Phyllis Battaglia with her Escort Tristan Musa and Princess Jeny Moreno with her Escort Julio Contrera greeted the guests as they entered the fiesta grounds.

The Royal Court will be serving as goodwill ambassadors in the community.

The Fiesta is the San Gabriel Mission’s yearly fundraiser held on Labor Day weekend every year.

The event included International Food Booths, a Beer and Wine Garden, carnival rides, game booths, Bingo games, live entertainment, Blessing of the Animals, Kids’ and Pets’ Costume contests and a Birthday cake celebration.

A cat, a bird, two lizards and a guinea pig joined with dogs and their humans for the Blessing of the Animals.

Queen Phyllis Battaglia was the Mistress of Ceremony. She said it is so great to be here today. Animals are amazing. She would like to pet all of the animals today if she could.  She introduced Father John and Mr. McDuff to the audience.

Father John offered prayers for all of the pets. We should protect our pets as they provide us with love and joy. They are not judgmental. Take care of your pets in God’s name. Saint Francis called them his friends.

Father John blessed all of the pets and their humans with Holy Water.

The Judges for the Kids’ and Pets’ Consume Contest were Antonio, Dennis and Maria. Their job was to make a collective decision on the winners of each contest.

Queen Phyllis Battaglia said the Pets would be judged on the Largest Pet, the Smallest Pet, the Internationally Dressed Pet and the Most Unique Pet.

Buddy was introduced to the judges in the Largest Pet division.

Bronze was introduced to the judges in the Largest Pet division.

Jake in his decorated cage was introduced to the judges in the Smallest Pet division.

Kobe wearing a Dodger T-shirt was introduced to the judges in the Smallest Pet division.

Toothless and Light Fairy, the lizards in their little cage were introduced to the judges in the Smallest Pet division.

Carmel, the guinea pig dressed as a Unicorn was introduced to the judges in the Smallest Pet division.

Lucky and Baby were introduced to the judges in the Smallest Pet division.

Carmillo was introduced to the judges in the International Dress Pet division.

Coco was introduced to the judges in the International Dress Pet division.

Tedly was introduced to the judges in the Most Unique Pet division.

Stella dressed as the Blue Ox was introduced to the judges in the Most Unique Pet division.

Girly was introduced to the judges in the Most Unique Dressed Pet division.

Bentley was introduced to the judges in the Most Unique Dressed Pet division.

Cassandra and Isabella Hernandez provided entertainment during the events. They sang many old Spanish Folk tunes to the delight of the audience as they waited for the judges’ decisions on the Pets’ contest.

Queen Phyllis Battaglia announced the Pet winners: Buddy the Largest, Carmel the Smallest, Coco for International, Stella for Most Unique and Bentley for Most Unique Dressed categories. The winners and their humans posed for a group picture in honor of the event.

Queen Phyllis Battaglia announced it was time for the Kids’ Contest with the children entering the stage as their names were called.

Sophia greeted the judges dressed in her International costume.

Alicia and Jose greeted the judges dressed in their International costumes.

Brooklyn greeted the judges dressed in her International costume.

Lily dressed as Joan of Arc greeted the judges dressed in her Religious costume.

Sabrina dresses as a colorful parrot greeted the judges dressed in her Animal costume.

Christian and Stella dressed as Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox greeted the judges dressed in their Fairy Tale costumes.

James wearing his Native Cap greeted the judges dressed in his Fairy Tale costume.

Camilla and Fatima dressed as Fairy Princesses greeted the judges dressed in their Fairy Tale costumes.

Deanna dressed in her Cosplay costume greeted the judges in this new category (Cosplay is a performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character.)

Ramona dressed in her Cosplay costume greeted the judges in this new category.

Elijah dressed in his Cosplay costume hid from the judges and would not join Queen Phyllis on the stage.

Queen Phyllis Battaglia announced the winners of the Kids’ Contest: Fatima in the Fairy Tale contest; Sophia in the International contest; Sabrina in the Animal Dress contest; Lily in the Religious contest and Ramona in the Cosplay contest. They all posed for a group picture with their certificates and Mission Fiesta T-shirts.

Queen Phyllis Battaglia thanked all of the participants in both contests.  Please enjoy the fiesta.

Princess Abigail Platon with her Escort Antonio Robles, Queen Phyllis Battaglia with her Escort Tristan Musa and Princess Jeny Moreno with her Escort

Julio Contrera dressed in their casual clothes participated in the Blessing of the Animals and the Kids’ and Pets’ costume contests.

The San Gabriel Mission with their Gift Shop is located at 427 S. Junipero Serra Drive in San Gabriel California. For more information please call them at 626-457-3048 or use their website www.SanGabrielMission.org.