End of summer, Labor Day Celebration

It’s the last holiday weekend of the summer, and South Padre Island is the site of a variety of Labor Day Weekend events, from fireworks to volleyball to sailboat racing and more.
The last Friday night fireworks show of the summer blasts off over the Laguna Madre at 9:15 p.m. And, for the holiday weekend, a special aerial display will light up the sky over the bay on Saturday at 9:15 p.m.
South Padre Island has been proclaimed as the Fireworks Capital of Texas by the Texas Senate, and the weekly shows draw crowds to the bayfront all summer.
The Island is also the host of the annual RuffRider Regatta on Labor Day Weekend. Twenty-seven catamarans have registered for the two-day race that begins Saturday and ends on Sunday.
Racers will hoist their colorful sails for a race around the Island, starting at the flats north of the South Padre Island Convention Centre. The race will begin right after a skippers’ meeting at 10 a.m. Boats will travel up the Intracoastal Waterway and out into the Gulf of Mexico at the Mansfield Cut.
They will spend the night on the beach, finishing the race Sunday by sailing back into the Laguna Madre through the Brownsville Ship Channel and then north to the finish line.
Volleyball fans will find one of the biggest beach volleyball tournaments anywhere on the beach in front of Boomerang Billy’s.
The 19th Annual Labor Day Beach Volleyball Tournament will be served up starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s play will involve men’s and women’s doubles, with mixed doubles on Sunday.
The South Padre Island Convention Centre will be headquarters for car and truck buffs at the two-day Border Bash. The event, which features tricked out and souped up vehicles on display, runs Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.