Latino Festival returns with more food, more music and more dancing
Dubois County’s Latino Festival returns to Market Street Park on Saturday, highlighting the county and region’s multicultural fabric with traditional dances, food and music.
Now in its 12th year, the event runs from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sept. 19 and is organized by ALASI, Asociación Latinoamericana del Sur de Indiana, a local nonprofit that supports the area’s Hispanic community.
The festival did not happen last year. Instead, ALASI held an event called Juntos We Stand, giving the community space to gather after a difficult year. This year’s festival return, organizers say, is a deliberate step forward.
“It is time again to celebrate,” said board member Donna Balka. “Last year we had our Juntos We Stand, which was a great event, but this is just something more to show the community that we are here, we are supporting them, and not just in the hard times, but in the fun times as well.”
The community seems hungry for the festival and its multicultural roots. As planning moved forward, the board was overwhelmed by the number of volunteers wanting to help make the festival happen. “When we opened the (volunteer) registration, it filled up in two days,” Rossina said.
According to board member Evelyn Rivas, after receiving inquiries from even more people wanting to be part of the day’s event, she created a few more slots, and they filled immediately.
It’s an affirmation that the community wants the festival and what it represents to continue.
ALASI built this year’s festival around “Cambias Mi Mundo,” the title track of Mexican singer Lila Downs’ latest album, a collaboration with rapper Snow Tha Product. Downs has said the song was inspired by students from vulnerable communities she has personally sponsored through scholarships. The chorus centers on transformation happening in an instant — the idea that changing your own life ripples out to your family, and families moving forward strengthen the whole community.
According to Rossina Sandoval Monsivais, that’s how they are framing this year’s event. It celebrates “the people who change our world” through school, work, raising their voices, and pushing toward a better future for the community around them.
“As the song says, ‘Cambias mi mundo en un segundo.’ It’s a reminder that when you change your life, you change your family; when families move forward, we strengthen communities,” she said. “So that’s what we celebrate: the people who ‘Cambian Mi Mundo.'”
What to expect
In addition to the traditional foods that have become a staple in our community, tacos, pupusas, elotes (street corn) and more, this year’s festival brings Peruvian and Venezuelan food for the first time. Board member Claudia Breña, a Peru native and former food journalist, is serving anticuchos—grilled, marinated beef heart skewers featuring a mixture of spices her mother personally brought from Peru for the festival. According to Claudia, Peruvians are very proud of their food, and this is one of the nation’s favorite dishes.
Claudia has wanted to bring this dish to the festival for several years because these foods are part of the cultural identities and heritage on display.
“I think it’s a great way to bring culture and educate others and even educate us too,” she said.
Along with Claudia’s dish, a new Venezuelan vendor will serve pinchos venezolanos, seasoned pork skewers with peppers that are grilled over a charcoal fire. “I already tried them,” Claudia said. “They are really good.”
Beyond the food, the festival’s heart is its music and dancing. Visitors to the fest can experience several folkloric dance demonstrations by dance troupes from Southern Indiana, as well as local students.
Lupita Sanchez-Escalera is a member of Corazón Mexico, a dance troupe that has performed regularly at the festival. The traditional dances let her show something she finds beautiful about her culture while continuing the tradition in her home in Southern Indiana. And the dances transcend cultures.
“A lot of different people come up to me to let me know that they enjoyed what we did up there,” she said.
New this year is a salsa dance lesson, led ahead of La Salsoteca’s evening performance. The new addition responds to years of requests from the county’s growing Venezuelan, Colombian, Cuban and Puerto Rican community, whose dance traditions lean more toward salsa than the Mexican folkloric style the festival has traditionally featured. “So many members of the community have been asking for salsa,” said Claudia.
The 12-member band, La Salsoteca, will also perform after providing the lessons. And at the end of the lessons, there will be a salsa-dancing contest.
The evening will end with DJ Rojo, a highly sought-after Huntington-based DJ, leading a community dance party. DJ Rojo is usually booked years in advance due to his popularity, but he always clears his schedule to support the festival.
For the organizers, this last hour and a half of the festival is their favorite part. The community dances to DJ Rojo’s selections, closing out a day meant to be about the joyful experience of food, music and dancing, with joyful dancing and music from a crowd of all ages, especially younger festivalgoers, still on their feet until the very end.
If you go
The festival runs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday at Market Street Park. Here is a schedule of events.
Escenario Stage
- 12 p.m. — Opening ceremony, folkloric dances, national anthem
- 1–3 p.m. — Poder Norteño (local band)
- 4–5 p.m. — Folkloric dances
- 5–6 p.m. — Salsa lessons, live with La Salsoteca
- 6–8 p.m. — La Salsoteca concert
- 8:30–11 p.m. — DJ Rojo and La Fiesta del Pueblo
Comedor / Food Court
- 11 a.m.–11 p.m. — Open all day
Juegos / Playground
- 12–4 p.m. — Face painting with Delmy
- 3–7 p.m. — Temporary tattoos, tinsel hair and hair chalk
- 11 a.m.–8 p.m. — Inflatables
- 3–5 p.m. — Piñata exhibit
Sponsors / Aliados
11 a.m.–6 p.m. — Sponsor booths open, with prize giveaways
