Here's how to attend Festival de Mariachi en la Isla

The fourth annual Festival de Mariachi en la Isla kicks off Wednesday, featuring performances from professional ensembles and high school groups.

This year's festival will be a longer event than previous years, lasting five days. The event takes place at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi with activities including food trucks and local vendors, contests and workshops.

Events start at 6 p.m. Wednesday with Alcorta's Compa?ía de Danza Folklórica. This event is free.

On Thursday, the Corpus Christi Choral will perform an all-Spanish program featuring local mariachi musicians at 7:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center.

The program includes "Una Tarde Fresquita de Mayo" arranged by Bruce Trinkley, "Three Mexican Folk Songs" arranged by David Conte, "Esta Tierra" by Javier Busto, "Sigue" by Ivette Herryman and "Misa Criolla" by Ariel Ramirez. Tickets for this event cost $5.

Friday's events include an 8 p.m. concert in the Performing Arts Center by Mariachi Mariposas, who will also be giving a masterclass. The concert costs $10 for students and seniors and $15 for general admission tickets.

Mariachi Mariposas is an all-female mariachi group.

On Saturday, the festival continues with an entire day of performances. Tickets for the day cost $20 and include a concert by Mariachi 7 Leguas.

Local artist and muralist Marya Zamora will be holding art activities all day.

Performances by school groups begin at 11 a.m. Over the course of the day, groups including Mariachi Javelina from Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Sharyland High School's Mariachi Nuevo Cascabel, Las Vegas Academy of the Arts Mariachi, Texas A&M University's Mariachi de la Isla, Mariachi Del Mar and Corpus Christi ISD's All-Stars Mariachi will perform.

At 1 p.m. Saturday, there will be a talk on women in mariachi titled, "Platica: Mujeres de Mariachi," with Texas A&M University-Professor Amanda Marquez and Aries Limon, who is pursuing a master's of fine arts at the University of Texas studying the history and cultural significance of the traje charro.

There will be a college ensemble performance at 5 p.m.

Mariachi 7 Leguas will perform at 8 p.m.

On Sunday, events will conclude with a Spanish mass at the Corpus Christi Cathedral with music by up to 40 area mariachi musicians.

For more information about the events, visit https://www.tamucc.edu/performing-arts-center/mariachi-fest/index.php.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: 2024 Festival de Mariachi en la Isla returns Wednesday-Sunday