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Kassandra Guerra performs at 7 years old at a Lakehills Community Center dance performance in 2006, and Kassandra today as a volunteer for the Medina Lake Cajun Festival.
Courtesy Photos
September 1, 2023
Cajun Festival volunteer comes full circle across years
By Ron Clarke
The Bandera Prophet
Kassandra Guerra first became involved with the Lakehills Community Center as a child entertainer during dance recitals and Christmas shows for the local center in 2006, while her brother David and Isaac frequented the Community Center learning karate at the weekly courses offered then and even now. Her Christmas dance performance in 2006 was front-page news, as she laughed with a friend for a photo in a Bandera newspaper more than 15 years ago. Now, she has come full circle, and after graduating college returned to the very place where she learned so much as a youth to provide community support and volunteerism at the Community Center.
What started out as a love of dance and performing has grown into full community service as a volunteer for the Community Center and the Medina Lake Cajun Festival. Kassandra said volunteerism and volunteering for the Festival and the Community Center “provides opportunities to understand my community better, to understand what the Community Center offers our area and to interact with other like-minded volunteers who care about this community. It’s never too late to join us and volunteer and have all the fun we have while doing something great for where we live.”
She further stated she volunteers specifically for Cajun Festival cooking and preparation as she “recognizes that this is the significant fundraiser for our Community Center” and all its programs.” She especially remembers community dinners both for the center and to support the Lakehills Library as a child, and the Community Center dances and performances she participated in at Christmas at the Center.
The Guerra family, including Kassandra, Isaac and David, used a variety of classes and services at the Community Center as they grew up in the Pipe Creek – Lakehills area. David received the 2023 College Scholarship Award from the Community Center and is currently a sophomore at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida; and Issac is a Junior at Colorado Christian University, where he followed Kassandra who graduated from CCU with a degree in Social Science just this summer.
Kassandra graduated from Bandera High School in 2018, where she was the president of the Student Council, was a member of the National Honor Society, captain of the dance team, and was a member of the International Club. Kassandra also mentored students as a part of the Alkek student teacher program providing support for HeadStart classes.
Their parents, Harvey and Lucinda, are Community Center members and became involved after they moved to the Pipe Creek area in the early 2000s. They are also volunteers for the Medina Lake Cajun Festival.
Kassandra was recently engaged has purchased property with her fiancé Joseph, in which they plan to build a home in the future. She anticipates being a local volunteer for many years and will soon begin employment with a major insurance company.
This year, the 42nd annual Medina Lake Cajun Festival will be held on Saturday, Sept. 23, and volunteers will once again create the magic that transforms the grounds of the Lakehills Community Center into a little slice of Cajun Country. The festival brings Zydeco and Cajun music, homemade Cajun food, and culture of Louisiana to the Texas Hill Country for fun the whole family can enjoy, including the now-famous Gumbo Cook-Off, which is the very origin of the Cajun Festival. Guests can sample gumbos from the amateur, professional, and culinary student divisions. It’s never too late to volunteer and volunteers are still needed in a variety of areas.
This year, the festival gates are open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Admission is $15, and children 10 and under enter free. As always, there is free parking and shuttle service, and the event is held at the Festival Grounds located at the Lakehills Community Center in Lakehills, Texas, 30 miles northwest of San Antonio. Profits from the Cajun Festival benefit the Lakehills Community Center, which has an ever-widening program reach for Lakehills, Bandera County, and the Texas Hill Country.
For more information or tickets including discounts, visit
www.cajunfestivalmedinalake.com
It’s never too late to volunteer. To do so, call 830-460-0600 or 210-885-6435 or e-mail bengel@lhcctx.org
Website: www.cajunfestival-medinalake.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medinalakecajunfestival
Instagram: @MedinaLakeCajunFestival
What started out as a love of dance and performing has grown into full community service as a volunteer for the Community Center and the Medina Lake Cajun Festival. Kassandra said volunteerism and volunteering for the Festival and the Community Center “provides opportunities to understand my community better, to understand what the Community Center offers our area and to interact with other like-minded volunteers who care about this community. It’s never too late to join us and volunteer and have all the fun we have while doing something great for where we live.”
She further stated she volunteers specifically for Cajun Festival cooking and preparation as she “recognizes that this is the significant fundraiser for our Community Center” and all its programs.” She especially remembers community dinners both for the center and to support the Lakehills Library as a child, and the Community Center dances and performances she participated in at Christmas at the Center.
The Guerra family, including Kassandra, Isaac and David, used a variety of classes and services at the Community Center as they grew up in the Pipe Creek – Lakehills area. David received the 2023 College Scholarship Award from the Community Center and is currently a sophomore at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida; and Issac is a Junior at Colorado Christian University, where he followed Kassandra who graduated from CCU with a degree in Social Science just this summer.
Kassandra graduated from Bandera High School in 2018, where she was the president of the Student Council, was a member of the National Honor Society, captain of the dance team, and was a member of the International Club. Kassandra also mentored students as a part of the Alkek student teacher program providing support for HeadStart classes.
Their parents, Harvey and Lucinda, are Community Center members and became involved after they moved to the Pipe Creek area in the early 2000s. They are also volunteers for the Medina Lake Cajun Festival.
Kassandra was recently engaged has purchased property with her fiancé Joseph, in which they plan to build a home in the future. She anticipates being a local volunteer for many years and will soon begin employment with a major insurance company.
This year, the 42nd annual Medina Lake Cajun Festival will be held on Saturday, Sept. 23, and volunteers will once again create the magic that transforms the grounds of the Lakehills Community Center into a little slice of Cajun Country. The festival brings Zydeco and Cajun music, homemade Cajun food, and culture of Louisiana to the Texas Hill Country for fun the whole family can enjoy, including the now-famous Gumbo Cook-Off, which is the very origin of the Cajun Festival. Guests can sample gumbos from the amateur, professional, and culinary student divisions. It’s never too late to volunteer and volunteers are still needed in a variety of areas.
This year, the festival gates are open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Admission is $15, and children 10 and under enter free. As always, there is free parking and shuttle service, and the event is held at the Festival Grounds located at the Lakehills Community Center in Lakehills, Texas, 30 miles northwest of San Antonio. Profits from the Cajun Festival benefit the Lakehills Community Center, which has an ever-widening program reach for Lakehills, Bandera County, and the Texas Hill Country.
For more information or tickets including discounts, visit
www.cajunfestivalmedinalake.com
It’s never too late to volunteer. To do so, call 830-460-0600 or 210-885-6435 or e-mail bengel@lhcctx.org
Website: www.cajunfestival-medinalake.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medinalakecajunfestival
Instagram: @MedinaLakeCajunFestival