With the clouds hanging gray in the morning, the sky cleared up later that afternoon for the city’s first Latin Festival and Parade held Saturday in downtown Long Beach.
A vibrant, diverse crowd gathered from all over Long Beach. Not one face looked alike, and many showed up with shirts and flags that represented their country’s colors. Children, as well as adults, showed excitement on their faces, singing and clapping along for the folk dancers who made their way through the parade.
The parade, which celebrated unity and awareness of the different cultures in Long Beach, started on Seventh Street and Pine Avenue and marched its way to East Village. Latin music was played loudly, a taste of the many music genres that made people dance in celebration.
Esther McCurry, the City of Long Beach’s marketing and special events assistant manager, said the help of Councilman Robert Garcia inspired the addition of a parade to the festival.
“We did not have anything on our city planner that was for the Latin community, and we wanted to do something more for them” McCurry said.
With support from sponsors, the festival cost the city $55,000. There were about 4,000 attendees of all ethnicities present, as well as 40 vendors and 600 parade participants.
Vendors sold arts and crafts from Mexico. The recognizable smell of pupusas, an El Salvadorian dish, made people’s mouths water, a long line forming to get this tasty treat. The Museum of Latin American Art was also there with an information booth.
“These parades are great to get your face noticed and have people come up to you and get questions asked directly,” said Erika De La Parra, special projects manager at MOLAA.
Armando Vazquez-Ramos, a community activist and a lecturer at Cal State Long Beach, served as the community marshal of the parade, an honorary role that he jokingly said he was awarded “probably because I am so old.”
He added, “I am amazed and humbled that I am getting recognized.”
Vazquez-Ramos has more than 42 years of experience in community activism and helped start the Center of the Raza in the ’70s to help CSULB students achieve success.
He has helped CSULB alumni such as Kevin De Leon, who is now an assemblyman in Los Angeles, and state Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach.
“I thought it was a well-organized inaugural event,” said Gustavo Guerra-Vasquez, a staff member for the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations and a Long Beach resident. He also thinks the parade has sent the message that Latinos have much to offer the Greater Long Beach community.
He said the Latin community has grown in the past 30 years, making Latinos one of the largest ethnic groups in Long Beach.
“In the 1970’s census, there were about 2,800 Latinos, whereas today there are 200,000 Latinos residing in Long Beach,” Vazquez-Ramos said.
Many CSULB clubs involved in Latin culture were not able to spread the word about the festival.
“They only gave me a week in advance; they told us so last minute, we would have liked to have been in the parade,” said Nadia Zepeda, a senior Spanish and Chicano studies major and member of the La Raza Student Association.
But Circle K International, a volunteer club, had a booth with face painting and games.
“This is a great way to add diversity and to give back to the community,” said Kristell Yap, a member of Circle K International.
Though not all were able to attend, many are positive about the festival’s future development.
“I am looking forward to seeing how the festival will showcase the diversity of our communities over the next few years,” Guerra-Vasquez said.