The bands will be singing stories of love at Selma's "Mariachi Festival 2009" on Sept. 13. However, a story of friendship is behind this year's festival.Three friends from 30 years ago at Selma High are key people at this year's event, sponsored by the Selma Arts Council. The old friends are Sylvia Garza, festival coordinator; Salvador Vargas Jr., director of Dinuba High's Mariachi Los Emperadores; and Clemente Jaime, leader of Mariachi Garibaldi from Selma. Los Emperadores and Garibaldi are scheduled to join another mariachi band, Mariachi Mexicanisimo, on the festival's entertainment bill. Three singers -- Berta Olivia of Stockton, Karla Morales of Pomona and Dave Aguallo of Selma -- also are scheduled to perform. The festival will run from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Pioneer Village. In addition to offering an afternoon of music, the festival will honor retired Selma High teacher Vicki Filgas, who directed the Mexican folkloric dancers for 34 years. Filgas, who retired this June, was teaching at the high school when Garza, Vargas and Jaime graduated in the class of 1979.

"They're good people," Garza said of Jaime and Vargas. They have never turned down her requests to play.

Jaime's Mariachi Garibaldi has performed at Selma's festival since 2003, when Garza started coordinating the event. Vargas' Mariachi Los Emperadores (so named because Dinuba High teams are known as the Emperors) performed for the first time last year and also have appeared at the Raisin Festival.

As always, the mariachi festival will feature a distinctive form of Mexican music. "A lot of people think if someone sings in Spanish, it's mariachi," Garza said. "But it's not. Mariachi tells stories. They're songs of love or something else."

In fact, the songs often speak of machismo, love, betrayal, death, politics, revolutionary heroes and even animals, according to the Mexconnect Web site.

The songs tend to tell serious stories. However, Garza has a funny story to tell about the night she, Jaime and Vargas graduated from Selma High. "Clemente [Jaime] was sitting behind me and we're talking away and they start calling the names of people who got scholarships. I didn't hear them calling my name until someone said, 'Hey, Sylvia.' Back in the day, you didn't know you were getting a scholarship until graduation night," Garza said.

The three friends have many other connections. Vargas and Garza were in a band during elementary school and Vargas and Jaime played in the marimba group that Selma High used to have and they were co-winners of the first Louis Armstrong Jazz Award at the high school. In addition, Jaime lived in the same neighborhood as Garza's grandparents.

All went on to be involved with music in some way -- the two men helping continue the mariachi tradition and Garza organizing the festival.

Vargas has directed Dinuba High's mariachi group since 2001, and he also plays and sings with the band. He lives in Reedley and enjoys performing in Selma.

"I come back at the drop of a hat," he said. "Every time we come, Sylvia does a great job of making us feel part of the event."

Vargas tells his Dinuba students that he owes a lot to Selma. For example, he gained valuable experience arranging songs while in the high school marimba band. "I learned a lot, and it benefits my group today," Vargas said. "I tell the kids, 'This is kind of your adopted hometown because it's my town.' "

Jaime, who still lives in Selma, said he enjoys bringing Mariachi Garibaldi to the festival because he sees family, friends and people who follow the band in the audience. (Mariachi Garibaldi is named for Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City where mariachi bands gather to play.)

Jaime has good memories of playing with Vargas in the marimba band and now he wants to create good memories for his audiences.

"We're a lively group," he said. "We don't just sit there and play. We get people moving. We sing to them and we go up to the audiences using wireless microphones and we make sure they're feeling what we feel. The rest happens naturally. It just comes from the heart."

Advance general admission tickets are $8 and can be purchased at Panaderia Vanessa, the Selma Senior Center and Selma District Chamber of Commerce. Garza also has tickets and can be reached at 241-4789 or 891-2237. General admission tickets will be $10 at the door.

In addition, tickets are $5 for seniors (62 or older) and children 7 to 12. Children 6 and younger will get in free.

Spectators are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, but ice chests won't be allowed. There will be community food booths. Major business sponsors are Wal-Mart, California Water Service, Sal's Mexican Restaurant and Azteca America TV 39, Garza said.

The festival is a family event, she added: "We do it so the community will have something to do on a Sunday afternoon and get to listen to some good music."