By Ramón Hernández

It was sixty-something years ago when Sunny Ozuna’s parents  would drag the 66-year-old musical living legend and his siblings to a good spot on W. Houston Street and they would watch the Fiesta Flambeau Parade seated on a tall cone-shaped tomato basket, which his father paid a dime for each one.

“El Rey Feo was the big thing because he had this colorful hat and uniform full of medals,” Ozuna said as he reminisced of days gone by.

“So I really don’t remember seeing any famous movie or television stars,” he added.

Now the tables have turned for the revered entertainment icon that was just honored with a float as Honorary Grand Marshal and will be seeing the parade from a different viewpoint.

In 1963, the consume showman climbed to the top of Billboard magazine’s Top Ten charts and appeared on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” thus earning a place in the annuals of American mainstream music.

Therefore, he was earned the title of honorary Grand Marshall. However, he is not selfish and has invited Rene Rene, Jimmy Edward, Joe Bravo and Rudy Tee of the Reno Bops plus Gilbert Rodríguez of the Blue Notes to share the spotlight with him on his float.

“The theme of the parade is “Legends in Music” and I said to myself, ‘what, if I were to invite some guys from my era? How about a handful of oldies artists?

“I thought of the Patio Analuz concert at Plaza Guadalupe and that gave me a quick list of who I could put together. And I really think the response will really be cool. I think the people will enjoy seeing all of us as they go, “look, there’s Rudy Tee. Hey, there’s Rene’ and so on.”

Ever the humble star, Ozuna has scored another hit and this time it’s for the Fiesta Flambeau Parade association.

The opportunity to see so many musical legends all at once is a feather in Sunny’s hat since they all gave up paying gigs in order to return the love their fans has shown them over the years.

According to Trina Guevara, another first is that in addition to the regular KABB Fox-TV commercial-free broadcast from Alamo Plaza, Brandy López and Michael Arellano will be live-streaming from Main Plaza on Commerce Street for Latin Fusion TV.

This year’s Fiesta Flambeau Parade will be held on Saturday, April 24.