Category Archives: Fiesta

The Ripple Effect and Fiesta Scholarship

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I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples. – Mother Teresa

When I think of the Fiesta Scholarship Fund, I’ve always thought of ripples.  How many scholarship awards have we made and how many lives have we possibly impacted?  It’s hard to know the ripple effect of these past 18 years but sometimes we get a glimpse into this and that makes me so grateful that Fiesta got started 18 years ago. 

This year, Fiesta was able to award $10,000 in scholarships to 8 Hispanic students.  And this was during a global pandemic!  It was great to be able to make these awards and to meet these students this past weekend at a special dinner.  For me, this is the best part of why we have Fiesta every year.  My friend and fellow Fiesta board member, Lui Fernandez, also gets so excited about these awards.  I love that he is on the scholarship committee and shares his passion at these events. 

After we had our #30 Days of Fiesta celebration in September and October, in lieu of a live event in Linn Park in Birmingham, we ended with the announcement of the Fiesta scholarship recipients.  Our committee chairs, Lui and Phil Sandoval were to make that announcement on October 15th during a Facebook Live event.  We were scheduled to go live at 6 p.m. but Phil had a last-minute conflict and couldn’t make it so it ended up being me and Lui making the announcement.  We also had a problem getting the Fiesta logo to pop up on a large television screen where we had planned to make the announcement.  What a struggle!  We ended up moving from a conference room at GoPro Events to one of their offices.  I watched as Lui, our event Manager Denise Koch, and board members, Silvia Espinosa Laxson and Vanessa Vargas pulled together a backdrop for me and Lui to present in front of in a matter of minutes! 

Creating a Fiesta scholarship backdrop in a matter of minutes for our Facebook live announcement on Oct 15!
AND….ACTION!!!
Facebook Live Fiesta Scholarship backdrop
We are ready for our close up! Lui and I await the countdown to Facebook Live on Oct 15.
Lui announces one of the scholarship recipients

We ended up going live at 6:30 that night and alternated announcing the scholarship recipients along with their major, school and a quote from their applications.  It was so exciting to be a part of that and I loved watching Lui during this presentation.  He was clearly on cloud 9!  Later we looked at the comments from the Facebook live and it was so sweet and exciting to see how many people tuned in and how many parents commented saying things like “that’s my daughter.”  It makes all the work and effort we put into Fiesta worth every minute of it. 

On Sunday, November 15th, the Fiesta board was able to meet the students and make the check presentations to each of them.  Once again, Lui and I worked together and made the awards presentation and reveled in meeting the students and hearing their stories.  In fact, we asked each of the students to share a little bit about themselves as we waited for our dinner to arrive.  Their stories had me on the brink of tears.  So much gratitude to parents who had worked so hard to get them to this place and so much gratitude to Fiesta for making the awards.  One of the students had been encouraged by her teacher to apply and she was adamant about her filling out the application.  This teacher turned out to be Charity Jackson, former Carver High School Spanish teacher who also served as the Fiesta volunteer coordinator for two years!  I honestly did not know that so it was such a full circle moment for me.  Two of the students have a HICA connection.  One volunteered there and another is currently employed there and was encourage by a staff member to apply. When I sat down to speak to her she said to me – “you look familiar to me.”  That’s when I found out more about her story and told her she probably saw me at some point during last year’s tamale sale!  Another recipient spoke of the sacrifices of his father who came to this country from Venezuela and learned English at the University of Alabama.  He paved the way for his son to have a better life in the US and this young man recognized that, announced it to everyone gathered at the dinner and said, “I’m going to go you one better.”  Loved so much how he recognized his father’s sacrifices for him. 

Lui excitedly tells the students what receiving a scholarship meant to him when he was their age.
Our scholarship winners with two of our three judges, along with me and Lui.
The Fiesta Board at the official end of our #30 Days of Fiesta…

The final full circle moment came from one of the scholarship recipients that I know.  A young lady who has volunteered for Fiesta over the years and volunteers in the Latino community.  She was the one who made the comment that “I believe in the ripple effect…to be kind and helpful, especially in my Latino community.”  To hear one of the scholarship winners talk about the ripple effect brought everything full circle for me this year.  It was the best way to end our Fiesta celebration until we can do this all over again next year.  I so look forward to adding more ripples to our scholarship story.

#30 Days of Fiesta – Part 2

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This is the second of a two-part post about #30 Days of Fiesta 2020 and how the Fiesta Board was able to create memorable virtual events for our community.

 As July approached, the Fiesta Board was off and running with our 2020 plans.  The main task was to create content for 30 full days from September 15 through October 15.  In addition to to that, we also had to decide which social mediums to use and how to introduce and promote each segment, create Facebook invitations to attract viewers, and make sure we were posting at the appropriate times based on our Facebook interactions.  Whew!

One of our many zoom meetings to prepare for #30daysofFiesta

In order to give our 30 days a good flow, we created a theme for each day of the week.  This made it easier to create content and helped us include our sponsors and get them actively involved.  Our themes were reflective of our Fiesta villages during a normal festival in Linn Park and made it feel more like we were actually having the event.

Our 30 Days of Fiesta daily themes and sponsors.

Our week began with Wellness Mondays presented by Jefferson County Department of Health, Children’s of Alabama, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama.  Information about services and resources available to help keep you healthy and safe were provided.  For instance, videos and live information about car seat safety, Covid-19 information, proper way to wash your hands and other great facts were shared.

Taco Tuesdays, Tito’s and More, presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Mi Pueblo Supermarket, we showcased Latin cooking and cocktails with recipes, culinary demonstrations and mixology classes all through Facebook live.  Fiesta friend, Comedienne Joy was joined by Fiesta board member, Phil Sandoval during the cocktail demonstrations and they were a hoot to watch!  The restaurants selected for the cooking demonstrations were incredible.  The foods presented seriously made me want to lick my computer screen because the food looked so good!  (just kidding about the computer screen…)

Love our sponsor – Titos!
Comedienne Joy and Fiesta board member Phil Sandoval did a weekly cocktail making class during #30daysoffiesta

Cultural Wednesdays, presented by Regions Bank showcased the people, history, culture and traditions of the Latin American countries.  It was the perfect way to show beautifully colorful videos about Latino countries and what they have to offer.  This was our way to share the cultural village with viewers.  For fun, there was also a trivia contest each Wednesday.

Throwback Thursdays, presented by Rubio Law Firm was my baby.  I say that because we used many of the photos I’ve taken of Fiesta since the first event 18 years ago.  I was able to go through so many of the photos and relive those years by creating a slideshow and share a little history behind them.  I loved doing this for Fiesta and I’m constantly amazed at the people I discover in my photos who I photographed and didn’t know then but who are now friends of mine!  We like to say that Fiesta has made a huge impact in our community and I think if you look through these videos you can see that.

Financial Fridays, presented by Wells Fargo provided “fiscal fitness” in the areas of establishing and building credit, home buying, savings, budgeting and more great tidbits.  The Financial Village was a wonderful addition to Fiesta last year thanks to board member, Phil Sandoval.  We held a separate event that brought together financial experts for the Hispanic community.  This year, Wells Fargo produced videos for each week and we also joined forces with HICA, the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, and Bancorp South for two virtual seminars.  Very informative!

Celebration Saturdays, presented by Alabama Power Company helped us celebrate the best of Hispanic art, music, film, food, dance and more!  This is “the line” we use when we speak about Fiesta in a normal year.  And seeing the content we pulled together made it feel like a normal year being in Linn Park.  We had Zumba classes, dance classes by DJ Ivan Correa who is a mainstay at Fiesta each year, craft videos like how to make tissue paper flowers and so much more.

And finally, on Fiesta Family Sundays, presented by City of Birmingham and Bham Now, we observed the importance of family and community.  With the help of LaJefa radio station, we had a weekly talk show spot covering various topics.  We also reserved this time for our area non-profits that are always a part of Fiesta to have a voice.  The last two Sundays we promoted two films in Spanish at the Grand River Drive-in.  More on that in a minute…

Fiesta in a Box cover
Fiesta in a Box
Fiesta in a Box
Cristina Almanza designed our Fiesta in a Box to benefit Fiesta Scholarship fund!
An example of what was in the Fiesta in a Box
Find the golden maraca or golden piñata and win a prize!
Golden Maraca
Golden piñata

See what I mean about content?!  Besides all of this, we also created something called “Fiesta in a Box.”  This box let our supporters have their own Fiesta in the safety of their homes.  We filled it full of fun items from our sponsors, information about our the Hispanic community, candy, craft instructions, fun little toys…and goodness!  The list of items was endless!  Several boxes contained a golden maraca or golden piñata which gave the box holder a special prize too!  The actual box was created by our board member, Cristina Almanza, who is a graphic artist.  She took such time and care to create something very unique to Hispanic culture. This keepsake box sold for $18 and we used it as a fundraiser for our Fiesta Scholarship Fund.

Set up at Pepper Place to promote Fiesta in a Box!
Going Facebook Live for Fiesta in a Box!
Ready to promote Fiesta in a Box during our Facebook Live!
Event Manager, Denise Koch records the Facebook Live with board member, Rebecca Garner and her kids at Pepper Place.
Rebecca and her kids open the Fiesta in a Box to showcase our fundraiser!
Fiesta board member, Silvia Espinosa Laxson poses with the Fiesta in a Box
Posing with the Fiesta in a Box

Our grand finale happened our last two Sundays when we partnered with Sidewalk Film Festival and Grand River Drive-in to show two movies in Spanish – Instructions Not Included and Disney’s Coco en español.  Several board members dressed in Day of the Dead costumes for Coco which made that last night of Fiesta all the more fun.  Of course, what’s a drive-in movie without popcorn or food?  We worked with Scott Cohen and Mi Pueblo Supermarket to create a wonderful taco menu for each movie night.  And popcorn with Valentina sauce was available for purchase.  If you haven’t tried Valentina sauce on your popcorn, you are missing out!  It gives it just the right amount of kick!

Our feature movies during October at the drive in
Scott Cohen and Juan cooked up the delish food for each movie night!
Popcorn with Valentina sauce – a Mexican favorite!
Setting up the entrance table for the drive in
So thankful for our Title Sponsor, Coca Cola Bottling United for their support of this years event!
Following safety protocol for every event!
Board members, Dulce Rivera and Phil Sandoval are interviewed by La Jefa Radio Station about the movies in español
La Jefa radio station is always a great partner for Fiesta
Taco fillings on the grill
Tortillas on the grill
With my friend and fellow board member, Lui Fernandez for the viewing of Coco.
Love that Vanessa Vargas and Lui Fernandez went all out to dress up for our Coco movie finale
Group photo right before the movie started…
Show time! Phil enjoying his view of the screen.

The best part of all this?  We were able to award $10,000 in Fiesta Scholarships this year to 8 deserving Hispanic students on our last day of #30 days of Fiesta!  After all, this is why Fiesta was created all those years ago.  My friend and fellow board member, Lui Fernandez, and I made the announcement during a Facebook live on October 15th.  It was an exhilarating feeling being able to do that and also reading the comments later…some from parents of the students who received awards.  It made my heart swell.  The check presentation to these students will be this November 2020 and I will share more about it later this month.

On October 15, Lui Fernandez and I announced the scholarship winners on Facebook Live. We awarded $10,000 in scholarships this year!
Lui makes some of the scholarship announcements!
Our scholarship advertisement

I’m so glad we did #30 days of Fiesta.  We learned a lot through the process and I think there are some elements that we added that we want to keep for the future.  This pandemic forced us to change how Fiesta functioned this year and helped us give the event a critical look.  It helped us see what we need to change in the future and what needs to remain the way it is.  I have loved this event since we began creating it over 18 years ago.  I never thought I would be a part of something this big for this long and I do cherish the moments, memories, craziness and friendships I’ve made along the way.  Here’s to 18 more wonderful years of celebrating Hispanic culture and heritage in the heart of Birmingham, Alabama!  Que Viva Fiesta!

Here are a few more photos from our very unusual year…

Setting up for the Facebook Live to kick off #30daysoffiesta
Silvia and Denise work behind the facebook live scenes
Cristina and I explained what to expect for #30daysoffiesta
Talk of Alabama interview with Nicole Alshouse
We featured our Fiesta in a Box on Talk of Alabama!
Our annual WBRC JehJeh Pruitt interview! Always so much fun with Jeh Jeh!
Selfie with Rebecca!
Dulce brought the food for the segment
Yearly photo with Jeh Jeh!
Jeh Jeh about to try popcorn with Valentina sauce!
Putting the Fiesta in a Box together with our board members and other volunteers
Adding the magic to the boxes!
Golden Maraca

 

#30 Days of Fiesta – Part 1

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Fiesta 2020 went virtual with #30daysoffiesta!

This is the first of a two-part post about #30 Days of Fiesta 2020 and how the Fiesta Board was able to create memorable virtual events for our community.

How do you have Alabama’s largest Hispanic culture and heritage festival during a worldwide pandemic?  That’s the question the Fiesta board was asking ourselves on April 20, 2020, during our first virtual board meeting.

We had already met on February 1st for our usual event review and strategy session.  Looking back on those notes, I remember the energy in the room that Saturday morning and how excited everyone was to share their ideas for our 18th year.  That day, we were even looking ahead to our 20th anniversary celebration in 2022.  We had also settled on a theme for the year – Celebrating in Unity / Celebrando Unidos – to coincide with the 2020 World Games that were set to happen in Birmingham this year.

By April, with the pandemic in full swing, a number of spring events had already begun postponing until the fall.  Our event planner, Denise Koch manages many of the area’s largest events so she was well versed in what was happening and the concerns out there.  Of course, with the state-wide order to limit the number of people gathering, among other precautions, that pretty much took care of having anything for a while!  The fall looked somewhat promising but we still had concerns.  So, at our April board meeting we decided to keep a watch on how things were progressing and make a final decision – go or no go – at our June board meeting.  Even then, we knew we would have to make some changes to keep our patrons safe. Board members were all coming up with alternative ideas to have Fiesta so we all agreed to submit them for discussion in June.

One of our virtual board meetings when board member, Phil Sandoval decided to wear his Lucha Libre mask. He knows how to bring the laughter!

The discussion was pretty lively at our June meeting!  So many great suggestions were shared and we dissected them every which way to see what fit Fiesta the best.  The one main decision though was to not have a live event on September 26 as we had hoped.  There was just too much risk and even those events that had rescheduled to fall were cancelling again.

Fiesta 2020 was set to be something we never dreamed it could be!  We decided to plan virtual events for 30 days during Hispanic Heritage Month which began September 15 and ended on October 15.  Our theme changed to #30DaysofFiesta at this point and boy did we ever “Fiesta!”  Fiesta 2020 would also prove to be a quite a learning experience for us all in terms of developing new skills and working in a virtual world.  As my husband continued to remind me throughout the 30 days…ya’ll took a one-day event and created 30+ events, so this will be a lot of work.  He was certainly right about that!

Come back tomorrow for Part 2 of #30 Days of Fiesta where I share details of the virtual events, we were able to provide in lieu of a live event in Linn Park, Alabama.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fiesta 2019 – A Look Back

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My absolute favorite photo from Fiesta 2019! The entire Fiesta board on stage for a selfie at the end of Fiesta! We are all exhausted but still beaming from the success of the event that day.

Fiesta 2020 just wrapped up and while I plan to share what the Fiesta Board did in the Covid environment to make it happen, I realized that I had not shared anything about Fiesta 2019!

It’s funny how much our board reminisced about 2019 while getting Fiesta 2020 pulled together.  We had a beautiful day to celebrate Hispanic culture and heritage in Linn Park with the theme – Celebrating Alabama Together / Celebrando a Alabama Juntos!  As a board, we always work hard to make sure everything we do has an Alabama connection and the State of Alabama’s bicentennial celebration was the perfect pairing.

The Coca Cola Main Stage Fiesta 2019

One fun element we added this year were roaming photographers through a company called Ring Light Photos.  You took your photo looking through a light ring and the result was a photo bordered with the Fiesta logo and theme for the year that you could text to yourself and keep!  I seriously don’t know who loved it more…the Fiesta board members (see the photos for proof) or the people who attended Fiesta!  We all agreed we need to do this for our next Fiesta.  

A big Fiesta feature that most people may not have noticed was our army of volunteers!  Thanks to the efforts of teachers Charity Johnson, former Spanish teacher at A.H. Parker High School and Lisa Garrison, with Vestavia Hills High School, who served as Volunteer Co-Chairs, Fiesta was fully staffed with high school students eager to help!  From the time I met them several years ago, both Charity and Lisa have looked at participation in Fiesta as an opportunity for their students to immerse themselves in the Hispanic culture and countries and find out more about the Latinx community.  This was their third year to be involved and because they took the time to explore Fiesta personally, they were able to offer suggestions for activities that kids would enjoy for our Family Village and actively created activities to bring along!  Their story of why they think Fiesta is important for their students and the community was covered by The Birmingham Times and widely shared. 

Parker Teacher Charity Jackson with many of her student volunteers at Fiesta 2018
Vestavia High School teacher Lisa Garrison with many of her student volunteers at Fiesta 2018
Posing with Charity at the Family Village during Fiesta 2019. Charity and her students pretty much managed the village in 2019!
Late in the day, student volunteers take a quick break together!

For me, seeing the sea of volunteer Fiesta t-shirts across Linn Park was enough to make me get a little emotional.  I loved meeting each of these students and seeing them get excited about helping little ones with craft projects in the Family Village or helping our board members in several other villages and onstage throughout the day.  Their eagerness to help was profound and I know that the reason these students turned out in such large numbers is a tribute to these two amazing teachers.  I really hope we can have them back in 2021 because they made such a lasting impression on the Fiesta board and event planners.

Students decorating the Family Village – FIesta 2019
Student volunteers helping at the Information Booth – Fiesta 2019
Student volunteers helping children with crafts at the Family Village – Fiesta 2019
Tissue paper flowers were a fun activity in the Family Village – Fiesta 2019
Fiesta’s Family Village was a fun place in 2019!

The Coca Cola Main Stage is always the centerpiece of activity throughout the day.  We feature as many local artists as we can early in the day.  Last year we even had The Birmingham Boys Choir take part.  It’s always great to add local flavor to the festival and hope to do more of that in the future.    

Birmingham Boys Choir performs at Fiesta 2019
Birmingham Boys Choir – Fiesta 2019

The main artists later in the day really brought the energy.  One of these artists was Genessa and The Selena Experience.  This young lady does covers of music by Selena.  And if you know about Selena Quintanilla, the Queen of Tejano music, you know she is a revered Latina artist who was tragically murdered at the peak of her stardom at 23 years of age.  All I can say is that Genessa drew a crowd and she was incredible!  Everyone wanted a photo with her!  Our headliner was La Energia Norteña and when we have a Mexican band at the end of our event, the crowd just goes crazy! 

La Energia Norteña – Fiesta 2019
Genessa and The Selena Experience – Fiesta 2019

At the end of our headliner’s performance, the entire Fiesta board walked onstage to thank the crowd.  I think it’s one of the first times in a long time that the entire board has been near the main stage to do this!  I was excited and of course, we had to capture it with a selfie!  Board member, Dulce Rivera was quick to grab her phone and we all posed on stage…our faces beaming despite the exhaustion from the events of the day.  That photo is probably one of my all-time favorite photos of Fiesta and our board. 

Fiesta board onstage at the end of Fiesta – photo taken by a friend in the audience!
My absolute favorite photo from Fiesta 2019! The entire Fiesta board on stage for a selfie at the end of Fiesta! We are all exhausted but still beaming from the success of the event that day.

I always say…the best way to tell the Fiesta story every year is from my photos.  So besides those I’ve already shown you throughout this post, here are a few more of my Fiesta 2019 favorites.

Fiesta – Celebrating in Full Color / Celebrando a todo color!

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This year, Fiesta, Alabama’s largest celebration of Hispanic culture and heritage, turned 16.  It’s incredible to me that this little festival, created so many years ago to award scholarships to Hispanic students, has been around this long!  Every year, the number of people who come out to Linn Park to celebrate the best of all things Hispanic, thrills me!  And then I get nostalgic, remembering previous years and I get excited about the traditions the Fiesta board has kept alive all these years.

This year, the board met early to brainstorm how we would top our 15th anniversary celebration – our Quinceañera.  I love it when the conversation starts, the ideas are tossed out and everyone starts talking at once because of the excitement!  It was like that when we decided on our theme this year – Celebrando a todo color / Celebrating in Full Color!

We’ve always said that when people think of Hispanic culture the one word that is universal in describing it is “colorful.”  It’s a nod to the individual cultures of the many Hispanic countries along with the different foods, music and dance.  It really was the perfect theme for Fiesta!

Each year we try to think of something different to offer our patrons and this year it was all about taking the “Fiesta” to each of the villages.  We engaged local talent to do this, which to me, made the event more personal.  For instance, the mariachi band we invited this year  – Mariachi Premier de America – started performing in the middle of the park at the gazebo.  After they finished their set, they walked to the different villages to sing more songs.  Many of the people working the booths at the different villages don’t always get the opportunity to hear and see what all happens at Fiesta so this was especially nice for them.  I saw a friend a week after Fiesta who was working at the Health & Wellness village and she said the people at their tent were so thrilled to be “serenaded” by the mariachi band and hoped we would do this again next year!  This is how traditions get started…

We also brought a lot of cultural performances back to Fiesta this year.  From the Aztec performers to the traditional Mexican dancers, we had many colorful acts for people to see and enjoy.   The Girl Scouts of North Central Alabama opened Fiesta with their traditional flag ceremony and the march of the Hispanic flags around the park.  My dear friend, Marisela Mendez, got this tradition started several years ago and we love seeing the Girl Scouts – some dressed in their uniforms and some dressed in traditional Hispanic outfits – participate in Fiesta each year.  It’s a personal highlight for me each year.  Next, Banda Azteca Tonantzin from St. Francis Xavier Church in Birmingham drew quite a crowd for their first appearance in front of the main stage.  I don’t believe we’ve ever had anything quite like this at Fiesta and I hope they’ll come back again because there were moments when I was quite moved watching this group perform.

One of the best moments this year was the last song on the main stage.  Our headliner, Frankie J, was performing and started pulling those of us at the back of the stage towards him.  The rest of the board came up too and we danced along with Frankie J. as he sang us to the end of Fiesta 2018.  It was one of those spontaneous moments that you couldn’t recreate if you tried and the entire board walked away elated about this ending.  There are a few videos floating around of us all on stage with Frankie J. and I’ve seen them several times.  I love that those are available for us to relive this wonderful moment from Fiesta 2018!  And on that note, time to start planning Fiesta 2019!

Fiesta 2017 – A Celebration of Generations!

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Fiesta Co-Presidents, Teresa Zuniga Odom and Vanessa Vargas pose with the newly unveiled Fiesta 15th Anniversary – Quince – logo!

A Celebration of Generations…that’s what Fiesta 2017, the Quinceañera, was billed as and it definitely delivered!

Planning Fiesta has turned into a year-round job for our board of directors and our incredible event manager, Denise Koch.  In recent years, we’ve begun the planning process in November instead of waiting until February.  As the festival grows, this is a must in order to stay ahead of the game and also make sure we are offering our patrons new and exciting additions to the event each year.  We are a working board but everyone also has a day job too so…

Our Fiesta t-shirts this year – Fiesta…then Siesta!

During our anniversary years in the past, the board had a new logo created in celebration and we’ve looked for significant ways to make Fiesta more exciting.  Our 15th anniversary – Quinceañera – was quite a milestone so we really wanted to ramp thing up!  It was a coming of age of our festival!  Last November, the board decided that during our anniversary years, it would be beneficial to have co-presidents at the helm in order to share the work load.  Board member, Vanessa Vargas and I were voted in as co-Presidents which lent itself nicely to our theme – with Vanessa representing the younger generation – the daughter, and me representing the older generation – the mother.   The next month, over lunch with board member Lui Fernandez, the Fiesta theme was born which cemented our charge for Fiesta 2017 – “a celebration of generations!”  I remember getting goose bumps when Lui explained his ideas for the year and threw out the tagline!  Vanessa and I were so excited and ready to assume our roles as “Fiesta Mother and Daughter!”

Looking back on Fiesta 2017 and our path to Quince…I have to say…it was our best festival to date!  Every quadrant of Linn Park was filled and we had well over 100 tents in the park – a record for us.  Park Place, the road running on one side of the park, was also filled with the presence of the McDonalds Fiesta Tour which had rebranded and looked amazing!  McDonalds, our Title Sponsor, was also handing out slushie samples and I heard they ran out!  That’s a lot of people drinking slushies!!!

The weather was gorgeous all day long and I once again loved going from booth to booth to photograph friends – old and new –  and thank them for being a part of Fiesta’s Quince!  This year I had Vanessa with me for most of the visits and loved having that experience with her.  I also really can’t remember a time when we had as much pre-publicity for our event!  Vanessa and I were booked on every station and one radio station leading up to the event.  At one point during the festival, Vanessa and I had “dueling TV interviews” going on in the VIP section!  Vane was talking to CBS and I was talking to NBC.   We always had a great time with Claire Per-Lee of Style Advertising (Fiesta’s Advertising Agency) at each interview and she always photographed and videoed so we could have that memory.  She made each appearance so easy for us complete with talking points and props needed for the interview.  Claire, Vanessa and I were in such constant contact in the weeks leading up to Fiesta that it’s a little weird not getting several text messages a day from each other now!

Talk of Alabama
With Claire Per-Lee of Style Advertising
Morning segment with Jeh Jeh Pruitt of WBRC Fox 6!
Birmingham Mountain Radio
CBS42 segment
Photo opp with Jeh Jeh! He wore the taco costume!!!
Talk of Alabama
WBRC Fox 6 with Mi Pueblo Supermarket
Cooking segent on WBRC Fox 6 with Mi Pueblo

Everywhere I looked at this year, sponsors and nonprofits were doing a great job of reaching patrons and drawing them in.  Swag from these booths was over the top!  There was just SO much activity all over the park that it was hard to catch it all.  That’s when I know we’ve hit a home run!   We always throw sponsor items from the stage, but this year we really ramped it up and the crowd loved it!  We’ve done this before but not to this level.

Throwing swag from the stage!

Volunteers…I can’t say enough about volunteers in general.  They can make or break your event. It you’ve been involved with events, you know this.  For Fiesta though, we’ve always been fortunate to have wonderful volunteers who have the spirit of the event at heart.  This year I wasn’t able to secure a volunteer coordinator for this festival so I took on the task myself.  And I was a little worried, I have to admit…especially with all the other responsibilities I had leading into Fiesta.  That is…until I got a message from a Spanish teacher Charity Jackson at Parker High School.  She said she had about 15-20 students who wanted to volunteer!  I was ecstatic!!!  And then she contacted me and said she had more students who wanted to volunteer!  By the time I had the volunteer schedule pulled together two days before the event, she had 35 students committed to working at Fiesta!  Ms. Jackson kept thanking me for having them at Fiesta but I told her several time that she really saved “me” by having her students there.  They were incredible…and so was she!

Spanish Teacher Charity Jackson with her students from Park High School – these kids were the best volunteers!

There are so many more stories about Fiesta 2017 that I could tell…but as I have done in the past, I think it’s best shown in photos.  If you came out to Fiesta, thank you…from the bottom of my heart for sharing our Quince with us!  If you weren’t able to be there…for whatever reason, I hope you enjoy a walk through our Quince in these photos!

 

Fiesta Fridays! 2016

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NOTE:  Fiesta Fridays is a special series to highlight the many memories I have of Fiesta through the photographs I’ve taken since 2003.

For Fiesta 2016 there was a renewed focus on our Cultural Village and what makes it the “Corazon” of our event each year.  We depend on the kindness of the Hispanic community when it comes to pulling this village together.  It is because these community members want to share a bit about their countries of origin that the village is always such a wonderful place.

This year we decided to have a competition to encourage participants to take it up a notch or two.  Word got out quickly when this was announced on social media and we had quite a turnout.  Not to mention, the booths were incredible!  Our cultural village chair and board member, Lui Fernandez, always has something special in mind as he creates the village atmosphere.  This year, he really wanted to encourage the community to sign up early for our 15th anniversary celebration and he decorated a booth with photos from all the previous Fiestas.  It was such a great way, in my opinion, to personalize the village even more!

The winner of the competition was chosen by three anonymous judges who went through the village throughout the day to observe and make notes.  At the end of the day, Mexico won the competition and a $500 prize!  Interestingly, the Mexico booth also has photos displayed all over the tent of past Fiestas!  Great minds…as they say!

DJ Ivan Correa and a happy dance lesson recipient!

Fiesta 2016 was also warmer than the year before!  If you read my post from last week you’ll remember that it was a cold and drizzly day.  This year made up for it with blue skies and warm weather.  It was beautiful…  And because of this, I think that’s why I remember people dancing so much!  We decided to use the gazebo in Linn Park as a Dance Station this yea and got DJ Ivan Correa to host music there.  He is always so wonderful and engaging with people.  He gave dance lessons and would also draw pictures of people who took a quick lesson from him.  Each time I went by there was always a steady stream of people.

Last but certainly not least, we had the McDonalds Fiesta Tour return for a third year thanks to our Title Sponsor, McDonalds!  This year, the tour went through a bit of a makeover with updated colors, design and also some new items on display.

Here are a few more photos from that day – some for how colorful they are and others because they are of family and friends who make Fiesta so much fun because they are there…

I hope you’ve enjoyed my Fiesta Fridays series as much as I’ve enjoyed going through my photos and telling them.  If you are in Birmingham on Saturday, September 30, 2017, I hope to see you at Fiesta for our 15th anniversary…and if you are, SMILE!  I’ll have my camera and you may just end up in my Fiesta photo collection!

A young man at the main stage
Los Canarios de Michoacana perform and the guy with the harp was amazing!
You can’t beat the colors of Hispanic foods!
Sombreros
Traditional Mexican costumes
Mexican Comedian Huicho Dominguez performs for the crowd.
My mother came by herself this year because she doesn’t like to miss a Fiesta! Posing here with my husband, Eddie
Friends at the VIP – Freddy Rubio, Matt Ennis, Chris Miller, my husband Eddie and Nick and Judy Harmann
Walter Body from Coca Cola with Fiesta board members, Vanessa Vargas and Orlando Rosa – getting ready for the festival!
Two of my favorite photographers – Larry Gay and Clark Scott – they capture the best photos of events in Birmingham!

Fiesta Fridays! 2015

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Rain ponchos were seen all around Fiesta 2015 for several hours but thankfully no heavy downpours!

NOTE:  Fiesta Fridays is a special series to highlight the many memories I have of Fiesta through the photographs I’ve taken since 2003.

Fiesta 2015 was a cold and rainy one…and if I were superstitious, I would have said all this happened because it was our 13th year!  However, even with the cold and steady drizzle, Fiesta was a success because of the people who threw on rain ponchos and came out to enjoy the day with family and friends.  I have many great memories of Fiesta 2015 in the rainy weather which I shared in my blog post that year called “Fiesta 2015 Rain or Shine!”

Mosaico Flamenco performs at Fiesta 2015 on the Main Stage.

This year we had a group called Mosaico Flamenco perform on the main stage.  I always enjoy watching and photographing dance groups and this group was incredible!  I love the swirling of the costumes and the angles of the bodies captured in mid-movement.  This dance group was really beautiful and I ended up staying to watch their entire performance.  Usually, I will photograph for a few moments and then move on to capture something else going on at Fiesta.  There is always so much to catch and experience!  This time though, I caught a rather intimate moment the group had right before taking stage too…they huddled together by the stage and said a prayer.  Like I said…it was such a sweet and intimate moment.  I watched for a few second and wasn’t sure if i would photograph or not but I wanted to remember it so took just two photos.  The group also had their own live music to dance to and that added quite a nice element to the performance.

A prayer before performing…
Mosaico Flamenco
Dancers on stage
Dancers in action – love the twirling motion!

Fiesta also tried something new with food that year by creating a separate ticketed area we called “Cocina Latina.”  A limited number of Latino food vendors participated and provided samples of their best dishes.  Attendees loved this and probably got to sample dishes they wouldn’t have ordinarily tried!  There was also the opportunity to sample Hornitos tequila too which was definitely a hit!

Some of the food samples at Cocina Latina at Fiesta 2015!

Hornitos Tequila was also available for sampling at Cocina Latina for those 21 years and older.
Salud!

Our artists were also crowd pleasing that year which was proven when people braved the cold and wet weather and hung with us until the soggy end!  In fairness, the drizzle had stopped by the last two acts but i just remember my feet being so cold from walking through the wet grass all day – AND…I didn’t have on the best shoes that day.  Oh well…live and learn…

Toby Love sings to the crowd at Fiesta 2015!

Toby Love
Toby Love
Toby Love ventures out to the excited crowd during his perforance.
I love a good crowd shot!

We had a return visit from Toby Love, sporting a light…almost white colored suit, which made his presence even more stark when the fog machine started rolling out the fog!  It made for some great photos during his performance including one I took from the back of the stage of Toby Love center stage and singing directly to the crowd.  It’s one of my favs!!!

Members of the Fiesta board pose with Headliner – Bobby Pulido – before he takes the stage! (L-R Chris Miller, me, Vanessa Vargas Bobby Pulido, Matt Ennis, Cristina Almanza and Carlos Aleman.

Another favorite photo is one taken of several members of the Fiesta board with the last headliner – Bobby Pulido.  He is such a personable guy and was great with the crowd.  I got quite a few photos of him performing with his band but one that we’ve used for many Fiesta promotions and advertisements is of him playing his guitar right in front of the audience.  I love crowd shots and this one was perfect from my vantage point…the lighting from the stage hit the people in the front just right and so I began snapping away.

Bobby Pulido sings to a massive crowd at Fiesta 2015!
Bobby Pulido

Come back next Friday for my last post in this Fiesta Friday series and read more about Fiesta 2016!

Oh…one last photo that I love from Fiesta 2015…me with board members, Vanessa Vargas and Cristina Almanza!  #selfie!

Selfie with board members Vanessa and Cristina as we began the day! My hair was still dry at this point!

 

 

Fiesta Fridays! 2014

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NOTE:  Fiesta Fridays is a special series to highlight the many memories I have of fiesta through the photographs I’ve taken since 2003.

Title Sponsor McDonalds brought the Fiesta Tour to Linn Park in 2014!

Fiesta 2014 brought us a series of “firsts” to our event.  One of the biggest was getting our “first” Title Sponsor.  Our top-level of sponsorship had always been “Presenting” and we had toyed with the idea of having a Title Sponsor.  The conversation ignited when Santiago Negre, Hispanic owner of numerous area McDonalds arrived in town.  He is the type of person who gets involved in the community and found Fiesta a way to do just that.  McDonalds had always been a Presenting Sponsor but this was the year we asked and he said “yes” to Title Sponsorship!

Jeh Jeh Pruitt of WBRC poses with Ronald McDonald, Santiago Negre, Fiesta President, Matt Ennis and Russell Negre before on air interview.

McDonalds owner, Santiago Negre is interviewed by WBRC’s Jeh Jeh Pruitt a few days before Fiesta 2014.
Home Depot discussed craft items in store for kids at the Family Village. Nicky and Vincent Koch help with the demonstration!
Photo opp with Jeh Jeh Pruitt! I was there to photograph the interviews at Linn Park that day.

We were thrilled, to say the least!  And in addition to taking the Title Sponsorship, Santiago also arranged to have the Fiesta Tour come to Birmingham.  This was a tremendous coup for us as this tour typically only presents in the largest markets like Chicago, Los Angeles, and the like.  The Fiesta tour – appropriately named (in our humble opinion) – is like a Latin Grammy Experience!  It’s a 50 foot trailer exhibit with a walk through display of unique artifacts and memorabilia loaned by Latin musicians.  You get to see items belonging to such artists as Jennifer Lopez, Celia Cruz, Jose Feliciano and Marc Anthony.  It also features a live DJ, music kiosk and kiddie area with a photo center.  The Fiesta tour was set up right at the entrance so attendees bought their ticket to the festival and could walk directly through the exhibit.  It was such an exciting addition to Fiesta that year!

Fiesta Tour entrance
Getting set up for the day…
Interactive contests took place at the Fiesta Tour!
Outfit singer Gloria Estefan wore
Sombrero worn and signed by Mexican singer Vincente Fernandez
Costume from Daddy Yankee
Cuban Singer – Celia Cruz and Musician – Tito Puente
Fiesta Tour
Fiesta Event Manager, Denise Koch greets the Fiesta Tour when it arrives Friday before the event

Another “first” was having a parade of flags, along with the flag ceremony and the Pledge of Allegiance at the event and this was thanks to the Girl Scouts of North Central Alabama.  Marisela Mendez is a powerhouse of a woman (now retired) who was a huge force in engaging Hispanic girls and their families into scouting in our state.  She arranged to have girl scouts from around the region attend Fiesta and dress in traditional costumes to carry the flags of Latino countries.  She also had a group experienced in the presentation of the colors on hand, and in uniform to lead the event in the Pledge of Allegiance from the main stage.  It was such a beautiful and colorful sight that year!  The girls were gorgeous in their dresses and throughout the day I would see them around the park with their families enjoying the day.

Photo of all the Hispanic Girl Scouts who participated in the 2014 Fiesta event in costume and Girl Scout uniforms.

Precious little girl dressed as mariachi
Hispanic Girl Scouts of North Central Alabama lead the festival in the parade of flags.
Girl Scout promise at the Coca cola main stage at Fiesta 2014
Hispanic Girl Scouts of North Central Alabama present the flags of the nations, pledge of allegiance and the Girl Scout promise.
Maricela Mendez, of Girl Scouts of North Central Alabama speaks from the main stage about Girl Scouting.
Photo Opp for me with these precious girls!
This looks like we are having a nice conversation when in fact, this little girl kept telling me I was saying her name wrong! Such a cutie!

At one point, I was next to the Coca Cola Main Stage with my daughter, Anna Marie, when we saw one of the girls twirling to the music.  Her pink dress was floating as she twirled and she was clearly in her own little world with the music.  Anna Marie and I began taking pictures of her when one of her friends saw us and decided to twirl with her.  It was such a sweet moment and I’m so glad we caught it.

The Twirling Girl in her pink dress…I simply love this photo from Fiesta 2014 and the pure joy of this photo!
Two twirling girls…they clearly loved the way their dresses swirled in doing this to the music from the Coca cola Main Stage.
Me and my daughter, Anna Marie. She came out to help me as I walked around the park that morning documenting all the booths and other activities.
My beautiful daughter, Anna Marie…

This was also the year we were able to grant a wish to a young Hispanic girl who was seriously ill and in Children’s Hospital of Alabama.  She wanted to meet her favorite musical artist – El Dasa – and we arranged to make that happen with the help of Amado Santos, Patient Relations and Language Services Director.  El Dasa was so gracious too.  Jasmine – the young girl – was taken by wheelchair to his personal tour bus and along with her parents and brother, were able to meet him and have a short visit.  The sweetest moment came when Jazmine gave him a drawing she made.  It was of a pair of cowboy boots and a hat,  similar to what he wears for his performances.  He was so sweet to her, asking her about the drawing and other things that she enjoyed.  He was truly interested in her and wanted to make this a good experience…that was clear.  A local news station came out to cover the meeting and at the end, El Dasa posed for pictures with the family and the drawing before heading to the stage for his performance.  I enjoyed being a “fly on the wall,” as they say and being able to witness this special meeting.

Jazmine is wheeled to El Dasa’s trailer by her father and followed by her mother. Amado Santos from Children’s Hospital is behing her and helped arranged for this meeting.
Jasmine smiles broafley as El Dasa speaks to he.
Jasmine and her family pose for pictures with El Dasa as he holds the painting she made for him.
El Dasa give a lively performance on stage!
Headliner, El Dasa at Fiesta 2014

 

More to come so please come back next Friday to hear about Fiesta 2015!

Fiesta Fridays! 2013

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NOTE:  Fiesta Fridays is a special series to highlight the many memories I have of Fiesta through the photographs I’ve taken since 2003.

Such a perfect picture of Fiesta to me….the weather was beautiful and the families came out to enjoy a day in Birmingham’s Linn Park!

Fiesta 2013 took place on a beautiful and sunny day.  The weather was perfect!  When the sun is out there is always so much energy throughout the day…from the moment we arrive to set up until the last act finishes up on the mainstage…it was a great day for Fiesta!

The Birmingham Pledge station late in the afternoon – one side had the Birmingham pledge in English and the other in Spanish.

This was the year of the Birmingham Pledge.  The Pledge has become such a big part of the fabric of Birmingham in recent years.  Written in 1997 by Birmingham Attorney James E. Rotch, it is a statement of principles at the heart of a grassroots effort to eliminate racism and prejudice in the world.  It was first introduced publicly at the 1998 MLK Unity Breakfast in Birmingham.  Since then, over 150,000 people have signed the pledge online and it continues to be a source for unity through conferences and study circles.  The Fiesta board felt our event was the perfect place to have a display.  We contacted Wade Black, the Executive Director of the Birmingham Pledge Foundation and told him what we wanted to do and he was so excited about the visual we were creating!  I was happy that Wade was happy.  He was an educator and filmmaker and such a huge part of all things related to social justice in our city for so long.  Sadly he passed away in February 2014.  I am forever grateful that we included the pledge at Fiesta while Wade was still with us.

Making a mark on The Birmingham Pledge with Fiesta Board member, Matt Ennis!
Here we go!
Our handprints!
Home Depot built the Birmingham pledge display for us and helped staff the area with paints.

We had a two-sided large stand-up display created of the Birmingham Pledge.  One side was in English and the other in Spanish.  Home Depot helped with the managing of the display.  Fiesta patrons were invited to place a hand print on the display throughout the day.  It was such a beautiful site!  I stopped taking pictures long enough to put my hand print on the display.  Fiesta board member, Matt Ennis, and I happened to be at the display at the same time and my husband took my camera and captured us inking up and strategically placing our hands on the white canvas.  I was so happy to do this with another board member…  Later that day, I returned to the display to see it covered with hand prints and see my friend and photographer, Larry O. Gay, capture a Hispanic mother placing her baby’s footprint on the canvas. He always gets the best shots!

We are fortunate to always have the beautiful fountain at Linn Park on display at Fiesta.  We place the presenting and patron sponsors around the fountain and there is always a lot of foot traffic in this area.  This year the children seemed to really love the fountain and I managed to catch a few photos of them dangling their feet in the water.  There was such joy and excitement in their mood.  In fact, children and families always make Fiesta so perfect for me.  I love searching for families enjoying different aspects of the event and photographing them.  I’ve included a few of those photos in this post.

Dad and son at the music stage
Enjoying a pina colada drink
A family gets a selfie at one of the nonprofit booths
Little girls pose for a picture in the nonprofit village

Another favorite photo from 2013 was of the elderly gentleman at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame booth playing his saxophone.  He was near the cultural village and I think I went by several times just to hear him.  His music added a different dimension to Fiesta with his jazz sounds in the midst of all the Latin sounds!  It all merged together quite well though and the crowd loved him!

On the Coca Cola Main Stage, we had Henry Santos performing as the second to last act.  This Dominican artist certainly had the ladies all a flutter during his performance!  He invited one young lady to the stage to dance with him and it turned out to be a young woman I knew from The Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama (HICA)!  She was up front and center waiting for his performance when I captured a photo of her.  I was so happy that she got to go on stage with him during one of the songs.  She was clearly loving it and so was the crowd!  We’ve had several artists pull audience members on stage over the years.  The crowd loves it and it carries the family feel of the festival through the night.

More to come to please come back every other Friday through September 30, 2017, for more behind the scenes stories of Fiesta!

Had to include this photo of me with my mother and two of her neighbors…mom is always at Fiesta if she is able and love every minute of it!