Festival Latino begins at 5:00pm at Orange City's Windmill Park Wed. June 6, with games, food, arts and music. At 7:00pm, the featured show starts: two dance troupes from Sioux City: Estrellas de Jalisco and La Perla Tapatia. The event is free, sponsored by Advance Pierre Foods and the Orange City Arts Council's Onstage Orange City. Support is also provided from the Sioux County Community Foundation.
ORANGE CITY – It’s a celebration! Festival Latino is scheduled for Wed. June 6 at Orange City’s Windmill Park, part of the Onstage Orange City series.
The fun begins at 5:00pm with many free activities: arts and crafts, face and nail painting, bingo/ loteria and a bouncy castle. Planned also are music, puppets, stories, and dance lessons.
All budding artists are welcome to enter the piñata design contest. Bring your homemade piñata at 5:00pm, including a string for hanging. Prizes will be awarded in three age groups, and announced at 7:00pm.
Authentic Latino crafts will be displayed, and fair trade crafts from Guatemala and other Central and South American countries will be available for sale.
And a soccer challenge is planned, on Arizona Avenue west of the shelter.
Mexican food will be served from 5:30-6:30pm, at a small charge: $3 for adults, $1.50 for children under age 10.
The featured entertainment begins shortly after 7:00pm. Two dance troupes from Sioux City will perform, an adult and a junior troupe: Estrellas de Jalisco (The Stars of Jalisco) and La Perla Tapatia (The Pearls of Guadalajara). One crowd-pleaser is a dance featuring both girls and boys, The Santa Rita Polka. Directors are Rosa Loza and David Lillie.
Mexico’s traditional dances have been influenced by Europeans – Spanish, German and French – plus indigenous groups. Folkloric groups are often formed by Mexican-Americans to pass cultural traditions to their children.
Rosa Loza moved to the States from Mexico – from Atengo, Jalisco – when she was 19. She began a traditional dance troupe in Sioux City in the early 90s, when her daughter was three, first learning the dances of Jalisco, done to mariachi music. Later Loza learned elegant dances, charro and caporal dances – those of ranches and farmlands. She designs and sews costumes, and does embroidery.
Sponsors of Festival Latino are AdvancePierre Foods and the Orange City Arts Council, with support from the Sioux County Community Foundation.
Bring lawn chairs or blankets. Rain location is the Orange City town hall.
For more information or weather-related announcements, see orangecityarts.net or facebook.com/ocArts.
