Carlsbad September Fiestas Reach 5th Anniversary

By Misty Cryer

Carlsbad September Fiestas is a celebration of the cultures and customs of the Latino community. It features free entertainment, including live music, and is designed to be a family-friendly event with artisans, retail, and food vendors. This year, the fiesta will be on September 12 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Beach Bandshell, located on East Riverside Drive.

“This year, we are starting like we normally do with our opening ceremonies. We will have a few speakers,” said Maelene Soto, organizer of the event. “The Carlsbad band will perform as well—more likely the strut team.”

The opening ceremony is scheduled to be from 11 a.m. to noon. While all speakers were not confirmed at press time, Soto said, “We will have Henry Casteneda, who will do the traditional Grito, giving a historical background on why Hispanic Heritage is celebrated in September and how it is celebrated.”

Something different this year: the folkloricos will be performing with a live band, said Soto. From noon to 1:30 p.m., Los Aviadores De La Sierra is scheduled to perform with the dancers from Kah Lo Folklorico Dance Studio.

“We will have mariachi again, entertainment for the kiddos, food, and then we wrap up the day with a dance that is free to the public,” said Soto.

Mariachi Fortuna is scheduled to play from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., followed by the cake walk, which is expected to start at 6 p.m. La Altitud Nortena takes the stage from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

“We will have a variation of food trucks, and we’ll have food and craft vendors,” said Soto. While a parade and pageant have been part of this event previously, she said more time and energy are being put into the event down at the beach this year.

“We normally have a really big crowd throughout the day,” said Soto. She said it does fluctuate depending on what else is going on in the community, but the event has experienced steady traffic over the years.

Chevron is the title sponsor of the event, with Devon Energy, Intrepid, Flex Oilfield Services, CNB Bank, BDS, Simco, Carlsbad Medical Center, and Select Energy as other sponsors. “We are really, really grateful for our sponsors,” said Soto, adding that working with the sponsors makes it possible to keep the event free to the community.

“One of our big goals every year is that we try to pay the flat rate for everything so that way no kid, no family, has to have any restrictions based on financial situations,” Soto said. “Everyone is welcome to come and have fun without having to worry about the cost of being in the inflatables or things like that,” she said.

A committee participates in the planning of the event, with a call-out each year to get the planning started and to see who would like to volunteer or be on the committee, said Soto.

She said the current committee consists of people who have been there since the beginning, with some who joined a couple of years in. “They have been the biggest help throughout these past few years.”

Aside from helping on the day of the event, the committee members take on roles to help bring the event together. Soto said her friend Vira Huerta helps with vendors and has been very helpful in building and managing the intake form; her mom, Sonya Escareno-Soto, helps a lot with sponsorships; Henry Castaneda is doing the Grito and works with the city; Benny Anaya and Jack and Alva Armendariz have been a big support from day one; and her cousin, Jovani Gallegos, has taken on a secretarial role.

About Jovani, Soto said, “She was a super big help last year because she made so many cakes for our cake walk; it has a big turnout, everybody loves a good cake walk.” She said Jovani will be asked to make cakes again this year.

“Those are my committee members,” said Soto. “Most of those folks have been with me from day one. It is a lot every year, and they help tremendously. You can’t do it as a one-person show,” she said.