Sun Carnival of Years Past and Present

An El Paso tradition whose roots go back to the early 20th century and has flourished into a year long series of events. The Southwestern Sun Carnival has acted as a way to promote El Paso.  The event has grown from a simple Sun Carnival to include a Parade, Sun Bowl, and a year long schedule of events. This year, the Sun Bowl has even gained new sponsorship. Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl is scheduled for Tuesday, December 31, 2019.

In remembrance of the history of such an extensive tradition, there will be a display on past Sun Carnival Queens from the Sun Carnival collection donated by Mary Sarber. We hope that you are able to come into the department and enjoy the display and explore the many other items in the collection that could not be included in the display including parade photographs, other Sun Queen portraits, and newspaper clippings.

Related Resources

A Guide to Our Sun Carnival Collection
El Paso Vertical Files - 
      Sun Carnival 1965 – 1969

Sun Carnival 1970 – 1975

Sun Carnival 1976 – 1977

Sun Carnival 1978 – 1979

Sun Carnival – History

Sun Carnival Programs (1 of 2)

Sun Carnival Programs (2 of 2)

One resource for video clips of Sun Carnivals past is the Texas Archive of the Moving Image.
UTEP's Special Collections also has their own Sun Carnival Collection.