Fiesta de la Flor has been officially canceled. The Quintanilla family, which handles the estate of the late Selena Quintanilla Perez, announced January 21 that the 5-year-old festival, which was previously held in Corpus Christi, will not be moving to another city after all.

The Tejana superstar’s family had hinted they might move the festival from the Coastal Bend to San Antonio. The event left Corpus Christi after a controversy over payment to the Quintanilla family.

The trouble came to light in September 2019 when former Convention and Visitors Bureau President Paulette Kluge resigned. She announced she had made an agreement with the Selena Foundation to pay it $50,000 even though that was $15,000 more than the profits from the 2019 event. She also agreed to pay at least $50,000 each year no matter what profits raised.

The original agreement between the CVB and the Quintanillas was to split profits with the Selena Foundation each year. In 2019, total profits only amounted to $35,000.

Although Kluge had the legal authority to change the CVB’s agreement with the Quintanillas, the Board of Directors and City Council were not happy that she did not seek agreement from others first.

Kluge is credited with spearheading the creation of the festival and establishing a close working relationship with the late singer’s family.

“In four years, we gave less than $100,000 to the Selena Foundation,” Kluge told the board when called to task for the contract changes last August. “The Quintanilla family said that is unacceptable. If we don’t get something for the Selena Foundation, there will not be another Fiesta de la Flor.”

The impact peaked at $15 million in 2016. It has declined a bit each year after that, generating about $11 million last year.

“Unfortunately, even beautiful journeys must come to an end,” said the Quintanilla family in an October media release announcing the end of its Corpus Christi run.

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