Santa Ana’s rich Chicano history hasn’t always received the celebration is should, but leaders hope the continuation of a festival honoring the city’s Mexican-American community’s fight and contributions will help with changing that.
The city’s second annual festival on Sunday, Aug. 27, to celebrate Chicano Heritage Month – also recently recognized by the City Council – will feature family activities, live entertainment, a car cruise, food and more from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at El Salvador Park.
“This festival is for the people and by the people,” Councilmember Johnathan Ryan Hernandez said. “It inspires and empowers families to come together in the spirit of collaboration and unity. And the goal of that unity is to celebrate our stories and to celebrate our history and to look forward to where we’re going together. Because when Chicano people come together, we are proving that we can change the world.”
Chicano people, Hernnadez said, have been historically disenfranchised, criminalized and have lacked access to crucial resources.
“They see gang injunctions in communities where families are supposed to raise the ir children. They were not given the tools that they needed, but now they are,” Hernandez said. “We are putting the pen in Chicano people’s hands and we’re letting them tell their own stories. And the story isn’t about violence. It’s not about pain. It’s about resilience.”
Hernandez said Sunday’s festival stands on the foundation of change that earlier community leaders fought for and helped create – stories that have often gone untold, he said.
The location of the festival, El Salvador Park, also served a significant role in local Chicano history. In 1972, hundreds of Black and Latino students rallied at the park to demand changes in schools. That same year, Cesar Chavez met with residents in the park to speak against a proposition that would have prohibited labor strikes.
Live music is planned throughout…
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