That pesky “fajita” business is back

Remember when the City Council tried to change the name of Rebel Road to Fajita Drive? Remember the reasoning behind it? The fajita was invented here, the council argued, and, by gum, the city should celebrate, should honor, should enshrine that glorious distinction, that fact that separates Kyle from all the other cities on this planet. C’mon, folks, that’s bigger than all the pies in the Pie Capital of Texas.

It might be an understatement to say that not everyone in town was supportive of that notion.

But that lack of support for the road renaming is not stopping the council from trying to rebrand Kyle as “the birthplace of the fajita.” OK, it might not be as big a deal as “the birthplace of the blues,” and, truth be told, it might not even be an accurate designation for Kyle, since evidence indicates the fajita was conceived and originally concocted somewhere else. Kyle appears to only be the place where a fajita was sold commercially for the very first time. But that distinction is not about to rein in the ambitions of our city leaders.

To wit: tucked neatly in tomorrow night’s City Council agenda — in the Consent Agenda where it might not be noticed too readily — is Item 10: “Approval of contract in the amount of $15,850 to Parallel, A Brand Agency, for PR Services.” That “PR Services,” for those few not knowledgeable about the lingo, stands for public relations work. And Parallel is a San Antonio-based public relations firm the city apparently has hired “to develop a strategic plan and creative ideas to reposition the City of Kyle as the ‘Birthplace of the Fajita’.” And this $15,850 to Parallel appears to be the second of two payments to the firm.

But that’s not all. The goals also include establishing and launching “the inaugural ‘Fajita Festival’ to take place May 8 and become an annual event” as well as creating “a temporary historical exhibit to showcase the history of the fajita.” I haven’t a clue as to why the exhibit is going to be “temporary” and not permanent. Perhaps it has something to do with the edible nature of the fajita itself.

One more thing: If you have a spare moment, check out Parallel’s web page. It’s really, really red. And not much else.