PRESS RELEASE: Fiestas Patrias de Windsor Tuesday August 23, 2022 For Immediate Release Media Contact: Angelica Nuñez, Director Somos Windsor eanunezlopez@icloud.com
707-239-0144 Celebrate a Traditional Fiestas Patrias in Windsor September 16 Windsor will host its first Fiestas Patrias Celebration on the Windsor Town Green Friday, September 16, from 5 to 9 p.m. The free, family-friendly event features music, a Lowrider Car Show, a Ballet Folklorico performance, community photo booth, free face painting for children, and a live concert by Latin American pop star Rocio La Dama de la Cumbia y su Sonora. Food, drink, and artisan vendors will be there as well, selling Latin food favorites. The Town Green celebration will start with a traditional El Grito (“the call”). El Grito is re-enacted on September 15th every year in Mexico at 11 p.m. Government officials in every city, town, and community in Mexico arrive at their main square or city to yell out a call of independence. Residents gather beforehand to meet the officials when they arrive, and echo El Grito with cheers. The September 16 date is when communities in Mexico hold annual fiestas with food, fireworks, flags, and music. Though Mexico’s independence movement began in September, 1810, the country won its official independence from Spain in 1821. The Town of Windsor is sponsoring the Fiestas Patrias event and partnering with the nonprofit SOMOS Windsor organization.
The Town and the nonprofit originally planned to launch the event in 2020, but then had to postpone due to Covid. With CDC and Public Health guidelines now allowing outdoor events of all sizes, the celebration is back on the calendar.
SOMOS Windsor board members and Fiestas Patrias event co-leaders Angelica Nuñez and Sonja Vasquez hope to grow the event to an annual celebration of Latino traditions and culture.
The two longtime locals have been working to bring Latino cultural events to Windsor during the past year, and are hoping to create more of them in coming years. Vasquez joined Nuñez in spearheading the first Windsor Taco Fest in July, bringing the Lowrider community to participate in the TacoFest Lowrider Car Show.
“We hope we can bring Windsor residents from all backgrounds and ethnicities together to form new relationships,” Vasquez explained, “because after all: ‘SOMOS Windsor’ (‘We are Windsor.’)”
Vasquez is a longtime Windsor resident with plenty of community service experience. She organized a weekly “Best Burrito hunt” to help support businesses during the pandemic. She also organized a Halloween “Trunk or Treat” held at nonprofit radio station KBBF in Santa Rosa with the support of the Lowrider Community. Nuñez is the Fourth District representative on the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women, and the director of Windsor’s El Dia de los Muertos nonprofit organizing committee.
“I am really happy to see the town recognizing Windsor’s Latino community with new events,” Nuñez said. “Our grassroots cultural events on the Town Green are a great way to build bridges in our community and this particular event would not be possible without the sponsorship of the Town of Windsor and the logistics support from the Parks and Recreations Department.”
For details and updates on the event, visit: https://www.elmercaditodewindsor.com/fiestas-patrias
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