Selena Day: History and 5 fun ways to celebrate it
Selena Day is celebrated every year to honor the iconic bilingual singer on April 15. It seems hard to believe that Grammy-winning Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla Perez would have been celebrating her 52nd birthday on April 16 this year. Just a couple of weeks before turning 24, she was fatally shot by her fan club president in 1995.
Selena was a US-born Tejano singer who helped popularize the genre, earning her the title of the Queen of Tejano music. Her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mexican-Americans in the nation's history and gave her the nickname "Tejano Madonna".
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Queen of Tejano Selena was murdered 25 years ago and fans haven't forgotten their icon still
History of 'Selena Day'
On March 31, 1995, Selena, 23, was shot by the president of her own fan club, at a Days Inn in her hometown of Corpus Christi. The woman who shot her had also managed the boutiques that Selena had established, which featured Selena merchandise, clothing, and full-service hair and nail salons. A user wrote on Twitter, "New picture of selena at the 1995 grammys?? didn’t think the pictures would ever see the light of day."
new picture of selena at the 1995 grammys??😭didn’t think the pictures would ever see the light of day pic.twitter.com/hWSLaDFLB0
— ✮ (@CAPTlVEHEART) April 15, 2023
She had been embezzling money and shot the singer when confronted with having to provide financial records. After her death, then-Governor of Texas George W Bush declared April 16, Selena’s birthday, as Selena Day in Texas. He said that Selena represented the essence of South Texas Culture. She has since been honored with awards and statues. There is even a Selena museum in Corpus Christi.
Ways to celebrate her legacy
1. The recurring pet-friendly market in East Downtown at Esplanade offers an afternoon of cumbias, culture, and local vendors offering handcrafted and one-of-a-kind goods, with some special tributes to Selena.
2. A movie screening at Rooftop Cinema Club Uptown at Houston will show the 1997 classic biopic that traces Selena’s rise to stardom.
3. In celebration of Selena Day and the Queen of Tejano, the Sugar Land hub for shopping and dining hosts a free concert with all of Selena’s hits.
4. Celebrate the contributions of Selena at the Neon Garden in Third Ward, which hosts a night of live music and Selena videos all evening.