On Sunday, more than 20,000 attendees came out to the annual La Fiesta del Pueblo in downtown Raleigh. As a festival celebrating Latinx culture, this was the 24th year that the event was held.
William Saenz, the communications coordinator for El Pueblo, said the event was originally created to be a gathering place for the Latinx community.
“There wasn’t a strong base for the Latinx community here,” Saenz said. “While it was growing, it was certainly growing at that point — we’ve seen the population increase since about double by 1990 or so — but there weren’t a lot of community events targeted specifically toward Latinx communities, so it was a good way for people to kind of get involved once a year, every September.”
This year was the fourth year La Fiesta del Pueblo was held downtown on Fayetteville Street.
“It originally started out in Chapel Hill,” Saenz said. “It was kind of a small community event. It ended up doing really well. We had 3,000 people show up and then over the years it’s been to the NC State fairgrounds.”
Booths were set up along Fayetteville Street starting at noon, run by local artists, arts and craft vendors and food vendors, non-profit organizations and major political parties. Dancers and other performers were on stage on either sides of the street. The event’s major sponsor was ABC11.
Lindsay Vandenbroeck, a recent graduate of Meredith College, was at the event as part of a political candidate campaign.
“I’m meeting with all of our local residents,” Vandenbroeck said. “We really want to make sure everyone in Raleigh feels represented. We really want to make sure that all communities, and in particular the Latino community, really does feel that it plays a major role in Raleigh, because it does. So, our goal here is to engage the community.”
Vandenbroeck added that it was encouraging to see so many younger people at the event taking part in festivities and celebrating Latinx culture.
“I think it’s amazing to get the younger community involved,” Vandenbroeck said. “It is so crucial and imperative for young people to get involved in the community, whether it’s in politics, whether it’s putting yourself into different cultures and opportunities that Raleigh has.”
Amanda Rodriguez, a member of the Raleigh community, attended La Fiesta del Pueblo last year as well.
“I came last year with a couple of my friends and we really had a lot of fun,” Rodriguez said. “It’s really cool because there’s not a whole lot of events like this for the Latino community.”
Saenz also added that she believes the event is about showing people how strong the Latinx community is.
“First and foremost, it’s really just supposed to be a really fun experience for everybody,” Saenz said. “It’s kind of our way of showing people the importance of the Latinx community to the Triangle and what it contributes, and showing people that we are not going anywhere and are here to stay.
