Monarch Trophy Studio, a fixture in San Antonio for 50 years and one of the largest makers of the city's Fiesta medals, saw a steep drop in medal production during the pandemic — but told the Business Journal a return to normalcy is on the horizon.
President C.J. Drago, who took over the top executive role at the family-owned business from his parents, Charlie and Kathy Drago, in 2021, said March 2020 was a major business disruptor when Covid-19 lockdowns began in the U.S. and abroad.
When 2020's Fiesta was canceled, the company was left with a substantial supply of already-produced Fiesta medals waiting for customers to pick them up — and no way to offload them.
"We were trying to get ahold of people not in offices, or not working — it had a dramatic impact on the (city) economy and businesses went very frugal with their companies," Drago said. While he praised safety precautions taken by workplaces, he said it was a challenging time for Monarch Trophy — which invests a lot of money in Fiesta season.
Drago said they worked with customers to try to get them their medals and come up with pickup and payment plans they were happy with. Later, the company changed the year on the medal so they could be repurposed.
While a belated Fiesta was held in 2021, many businesses reused their 2020 medals, Drago said, so production remained low. He estimated that the company produced 80% to 90% of the normal number of medals, since most were already made by the time Fiesta was canceled. Supply chain issues in China prevented the rest from being shipped. And among those already made, 40% to 50% were not picked up for six to eight months, he said.
Covid setbacks continued in 2021, with production hovering at 20% to 25% of pre-pandemic levels. But this year it's back up to about 60% to 70%, Drago said.
He added that he thought Fiesta would see roughly its normal attendance this year, but vendors are still being cautious with their spending.
"They're a little reluctant to invest beforehand because they still have medals ... carried over from 2020 and 2021," Drago said. Still, he's hopeful that production will see a return to normal by 2023's Fiesta.
"While I can't say things are back to normal, they're trending in a positive direction," he said.
Drago's parents purchased Monarch Trophy Studio 22 years ago from its founder and owner, John Bradley. Originally, it sat at the site of Northwest Military and West Avenue in Castle Hills, but as it grew, Charlie Drago expanded the company into a larger Hollywood Park facility.
Organizers of Fiesta attribute the tradition of giving medals to San Antonio businessman Charles Orsinger, 1971's King Antonio XLIX, who put 200 royal coins on ribbons and handed them out. In 1984, Lt. Col. Leon Childers founded Heart of Texas Promotional Products LLC and began producing medals for distribution, heralding the start of a new business model in San Antonio.
