Fiesta medals have come a long way since the tradition began in 1946.
Back then, the reigning King Antonio distributed coins to local kids, who sometimes tied them on cords to wear around their necks. By 1971, a local car dealer came up with the idea of punching holes in the coins to create medals much like the ones that adorned the attire of Fiesta royalty.
Now, hundreds of organizations get in on the medal action each Fiesta, ordering them in batches that can number in the tens of thousands. Since the 1990s, the designs have grown more elaborate and colorful, incorporating intricate metal cuts, vibrant colors, dangling bling and movable parts.
Because Fiesta medals have become an art form in their own right, the Current rounded up our 10 favorite so far this year to present in no particular order.
AARC: “Fiesta for a Cause” (Tribute to Keith Haring)
Founded in 1990, the San Antonio nonprofit Alamo Area Resource Center (AARC) is dedicated to providing compassionate support to the LGBTQ+ community and people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition to LGBTQ+ primary care and transgender health programs, AARC supports the community via preventative measures ranging from HIV and STI testing to PrEP prescriptions. Designed by Will Templin of Alamo Medals, the vital nonprofit’s 2025 Fiesta medal celebrates the iconic work of Pennsylvania-born pop artist Keith Haring (1958-1990), who helped shape the aesthetic of 1980s-era New York City with murals informed by graffiti culture and queer activism alike. During his short but impactful career, Haring made sociopolitical awareness look cool with artwork addressing everything from safe sex and the crack epidemic to apartheid and nuclear disarmament. A constant in his work, Haring’s signature dancing figures and linear graphics adorn the AARC medal, which is available for a $10 donation at aarcsa.com.
Battle of Flowers: “Melodies in Bloom: A Texas Serenade”
Monarch Trophy’s elaborate medal for the equally elaborate Battle of Flowers parade keys in on the event’s 2025 theme of “Melodies in Bloom: A Texas Serenade.” Sure to appeal to Fiesta traditionalists, the emblem displays a colorful bouquet of wildflowers along with a pair of elaborately stitched cowboy boots, an acoustic guitar, a fiddle and twin accordions. A singing bird perches on the guitar’s headstock. The $10 medals are available from Monarch, both online and in store. They benefit the Battle of Flowers Association, which organizes the founding event of Fiesta San Antonio. The parade draws some 350,000 spectators annually and commemorates the victory at the Battle of San Jacinto.
Bella the Alamo Cat: “Happy 10th Birthday”
This year’s Fiesta medal in honor of Bella the Alamo Cat celebrates the beloved feline’s 10th anniversary. The medal depicts the cute tabby, the latest in a line of Alamo Cats who patrol the downtown landmark and greet visitors from around the world, surrounded by balloons. A conical birthday hat sits on her head at a jaunty angle. All proceeds from the $15 medals support care for Bella, including food, vaccinations and veterinary care. The medals are available online at tickets.thealamo.org/events.
Best Quality Daughter: “Take-Out Noodles”
Chef Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin’s Pearl restaurant Best Quality Daughter applies the same creativity to its Fiesta bling that it’s renowned for applying to Asian fusion fare. This year, the restaurant’s medal features one of its to-go containers brimming with noodles. The charm dangles from a pin depicting a hand with manicured nails getting ready to dig in with a pair of chopsticks. Designed by San Antonio eye candy creator Jamie Stolarski, the medal benefits will benefit, a nonprofit chosen by Best Quality Daughter’s staff. It’s available for $15 at the restaurant, although an Instagram post promises it soon will be for sale online.
Elvira: “I Burn for Fiesta”
A local success story that began back in 1972, Monarch Trophy is arguably the main go-to for Fiesta medals in San Antonio and even offers customizable “express” packages that can be whipped up in as little as 48 hours. As the homegrown company behind many of each year’s most coveted medals, Monarch boasts a robust online marketplace that includes novelty items celebrating Fiesta with a refreshingly irreverent bent. Among a handful of horror-themed Fiesta medals Monarch is selling this year, “I Burn for Fiesta” — available for $13 at mtsawards.com — puts a playful spin on the pinnacle scene from the 1988 cult classic Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. Pegged as a practitioner of witchcraft, the Goth bombshell (played to perfection by Cassandra Peterson) is sentenced to be burned at the stake by the conservative townsfolk of Fallwell, Massachusetts. Rather than flames licking at her stilettos, Elvira is engulfed with colorful Fiesta ribbons and flowers. An ideal gift for the nostalgic Goth in your life, “I Burn for Fiesta” is part of a theme for Monarch, which is also selling medals based on Beetlejuice (“Half Way to Fiesta”), The Silence of the Lambs (“It Puts the Cascarones in the Basket”), Friday the 13th (“Fiesta 2025 Takes San Antonio”) and Stephen King’s clown nightmare It (“You’ll Fiesta Too”).
Feral Cat Coalition: “Neuter Is Cuter”
With unexpected roots in a Whole Foods break room, the grassroots San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition (SAFCC) took shape in 2004 and adopted an unwavering mission to “reduce the overpopulation of cats in the San Antonio area through public education, Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), rescue and empowering the community to care for outside cats.” Among the nonprofit’s key programs is a free, hour-long class that educates attendees about the ins and outs of feeding strays and provides traps and resources for low-cost surgeries. The coalition also operates fostering and adoption programs benefiting rescued felines. One of the cheekier Fiesta offerings we’ve seen so far this year, the SAFCC’s “Neuter Is Cuter” medal — available for $15 at mtsawards.com — stars a baby-blue kitty walking away while showing off a glittery pink rear end.
Fiesta Pooch Parade: “Spinning Pooch”
The Fiesta Pooch Parade, a 2.6-mile walk dogs and their people take through Alamo Heights, serves as the major fundraiser for Therapy Animals of San Antonio. The nonprofit dispatches pet therapy teams to medical and educational sites in an effort to bring people and animals together for healing. This year’s Pooch Parade medal features a lovable Fido who spins in the middle of a floral wreath. The $15 fundraising bling is available at spots including Barkaritaville Pet Resort, Fergies Paw Spa, Amols’ Party & Fiesta Store, Town & Country Vet Hospital and Monarch Trophy Studio, which created this year’s medal.
McNay Art Museum: “Mi Chicano Corazón”
A visual feast for the senses that electrified the McNay’s Tobin Exhibition Galleries for half of last year, brothers Einar and Jamex De La Torre’s dazzling multimedia exhibition “Upward Mobility” lives on in the museum’s 2025 Fiesta medal. Designed by the McNay’s own Olga Maya, the medal is directly inspired by a De La Torre Brothers piece held in the museum’s permanent collection — a glass, resin and found-object sculpture titled Mi Chicano Corazón. Based between San Diego and Baja California, the sibling duo works in an array of formats — from dizzying lenticular images to large-scale installations and blown-glass figures. Drawn to themes surrounding surrealism, horror culture, world politics and the mysteries of nature, the De La Torre Brothers are big fans of hybrid forms. When we spoke to Einar De La Torre last year, he shed light on a humanoid cactus figure included in the McNay exhibition. “We wanted to make a nopalero as [a way to ask], ‘What do you get when you breed all of the different people?’ You get diversity. You get strength. That’s kind of our position,” De La Torre said. Fittingly, the McNay’s 2025 Fiesta medal — available for $12 at mcnayart.org — depicts a human heart sprouting cactus pads in a style referencing the classic Mexican card game of lotería.
San Antonio Museum of Art: “La Sirena”
With diverse collections encompassing everything from ancient Egyptian relics to contemporary works made by local artists, the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) beholds a deep well when it comes to Fiesta inspiration — which may be why the institution opted to create two medals this year. Front and center, the lotería-inspired “La Sirena” — $16.99 at shop.samuseum.org — is based on a colorful clay mermaid sculpture attributed to the family of Josefina Aguilar of Ocotlán de Morelos, Oaxaca. As SAMA’s Adriana Gomez Del Campo pointed out, “Josefina Aguilar, born in 1945, learned clay sculpting from her mother, Isaura Alcantara Díaz, and comes from a long line of Zapotec women potters. Her work gained international recognition in the 1970s when it was collected by Nelson Rockefeller during his visits to Oaxaca. Today, she is celebrated as one of Mexico’s most important folk artists.” In addition to “La Sirena,” SAMA dug even deeper into its Latin American collection and created a secondary medal inspired by the early 19th-century piece Incense Burner in the Form of an Armadillo, which is offered as a free gift to SAMA members but is also available in the Museum Shop.
Feliz Modern: “Fiesta Queen”
Launched in 2017 by husband-and-wife duo Mario and Ginger Diaz, Olmos Park’s bright and bubbly emporium Feliz Modern presents itself as the “Home of Happy” — and succeeds with flying colors. In addition to festive decor, gifts and cards, the cheery boutique and its poppy sister shop at the Pearl stock cards, prints and jewelry made by a thoughtful selection of San Antonio artists. Designed by Mario Diaz, Feliz Modern’s 2025 Fiesta medal puts an amusing twist on the nostalgic Dairy Queen logo while also nodding to the quirky San Antonio tradition of crowning Fiesta “royalty.” While only one lucky lady will be crowned during this year’s Coronation of the Queen of the Order of the Alamo, dubbing thyself an unofficial Fiesta Queen is as easy pinning on one of these hot-pink beauties, available for $9 at felizmodern.com.
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This article appears in Apr 16-29, 2025.