Upbeat music filled the Pedestrian Mall in downtown Iowa City this weekend with the scents of spices and sizzling meat wafting between white tents as vendors sold colorful handmade accessories.
The 11th annual Latino Fest was held on Saturday in downtown Iowa City.
When Manny Galvez originally organized the Latino Fest with his wife, he intended for the event to be an expression of Latino culture and a way by which Latino family vendors could reach the eastern Iowa community.
Wendy Silva and her son Austen Ramirez sold vibrant handbags and beaded ornaments made by Silva’s mother in Mexico.
“She’s happy because she can bring something from Mexico here,” Ramirez said about his mother.
Silva said through a translator that she also wanted people to see what it is possible to make with their hands.
The festival featured a packed schedule of onstage talent, including acts like a bilingual show and an Iowa City Public Library story time for children attending the event, the Manolo de Aragon & Mambo Soul Dance Company, the Sones de Mexico Ballet Folklorico, and Grupo Innstinto.
Among the performers was Dilia Castaneda, who takes the creative name Chica Dilia. The 24-year-old singer and fashion designer has been participating in the Latino Fest with her family since she was a young girl.
The event has allowed Castaneda to share her talents with the wider community and gain recognition for her creative expression.
“There’s a lot of talent,” Castaneda said. “But a lot of people don’t really show it and Latino Fest is kind of an opportunity where we can actually come out as a community within a community to show what we can do with all sorts of things.”
Galvez said that he and his wife wanted to create a space where people could connect through culture, especially because the Latinx community has recently become a political “target.”
“It is not okay because we are not a political topic,” Galvez said. “We are humans. And it’s an opportunity to say ‘You know what? Our family is the same as your family.’ We have the same wishes and the same dreams for our future, and, most importantly, we are working as hard as everybody to make Iowa and this country stronger every day.”