By DIANTÉ MARIGNY
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.
A celebration born alongside the opening of the Queen Isabella Causeway more than half a century ago is returning to Port Isabel after a 41-year absence.
The City of Port Isabel will revive Queen Isabella Days Oct. 3–10, bringing eight days of community events, history, live entertainment and activities back to the city as Port Isabel begins looking ahead to its centennial in 2028.
According to Port Isabel Marketing Director Valerie Bates, bringing back Queen Isabella Days is something city officials have discussed for years. With the city’s 100th anniversary now only about a year and a half away, officials decided 2026 was the time.
“We think this is the right time to continue the celebration that the Queen Isabella Causeway opening brought in 1974,” Bates told the PRESS.
Queen Isabella Days traces its roots to the fall of 1974, when excitement was building across the Laguna Madre ahead of the opening of the second Queen Isabella Causeway.
More than simply another bridge, Bates said, the causeway represented the connection between Port Isabel and South Padre Island as well as the communities’ connection to their shared history.
The celebration grew to include a wide range of events over the following decade. Fishing tournaments, a street parade, chili and fajita cook-offs, Western dances, fireworks, Hobie Cat sailing races, a sand sculpture contest, shell fair, beach marathon races, arts and crafts, kite flying and even a shrimp boat parade were among the activities held during Queen Isabella Days.
September 1974 also marked the first Queen Isabella Causeway Walk & Run, an event whose legacy continues today.
Some of the other activities associated with the original celebration have also survived in different forms, including sand sculpture competitions, fireworks displays and the Shrimp Cook-Off.
Records reviewed by Bates indicate the Queen Isabella Days name changed around 1984-85. She has not located records showing the celebration continuing afterward.
Now, more than four decades later, the name is returning.
This year’s Queen Isabella Days will combine Port Isabel history with a new slate of community and city-sponsored events.
One of the highlights will be Pachanga on Maxan Street, which will close out the eight-day celebration with live music, food, artisan vendors, activities and a fireworks show over downtown Port Isabel.
Previously held at a different location, Pachanga will move to Maxan Street this year.
“We’re anticipating this new location will bring a new excitement to downtown Port Isabel,” Bates said.
The revived celebration will also reconnect residents with a piece of Port Isabel history that has been underground for nearly five decades.
A Port Isabel time capsule buried in 1978 is scheduled to be recovered during the city’s centennial in 2028.
As part of Queen Isabella Days, the city hopes to reconnect with people who participated in the original project.
Documents from 1978 will be displayed at the Port Isabel Public Library, where organizers hope to collect updated contact information for those involved or their families.
At the same time, the city is already looking toward the next generation. Plans are being discussed for a new time capsule that would be buried in 2028 and remain sealed until 2078.
The project creates a fitting link between the revived Queen Isabella Days, the city’s approaching centennial and generations of Port Isabel residents yet to come.
The return of the celebration will also include the revival of another tradition.
For the first Queen Isabella Days held in more than four decades, the City of Port Isabel has named Barbara “Bobby” Wells as the Queen of Queen Isabella Days.
Additional activities are planned throughout the Oct. 3–10 celebration, with events hosted both by the city and organizations throughout the community.
For longtime residents, the return offers an opportunity to revisit a tradition that once filled Port Isabel with parades, competitions, dances and celebrations. For younger generations who never experienced Queen Isabella Days, it will be their first introduction to a festival whose history stretches back more than 50 years.
And for the city itself, the revival comes as Port Isabel prepares to mark another milestone — its 100th anniversary in 2028.
After 41 years, Queen Isabella Days is once again becoming part of that history.