Editor’s Note: Quotes in this article have been translated from Spanish to English using an online translator.
Music and dancing filled Logan’s Center Street as the aroma of elotes, pupusas, tostilocos and other Latin American dishes filled the air at the annual Cache Valley Latino Festival.
The festival lasted all day Saturday and featured local Latin vendors and community sponsors, a parade of flags, and words from the Logan Mayor Mark Anderson and City Council Member Ernesto López.
“It is a pleasure to be one of the collaborators, one of the pioneers in celebrating our culture here in the city of Logan,” López said.
A woman carries the Brazil flag at the Parade of Flags on Center Street in Logan during the Cache Valley Latino Festival on Saturday.
Mayor Mark Anderson and López were introduced by organizer Carolina Calbimonte.
“This festival started precisely when Ernesto López said, ‘Carolina, if you want to put on a festival on Center Street, call the mayor; I know you can do it,’ and look at the result. Here we are at our sixth Latino Festival on Center Street in Logan,” Calbimonte said.
Calbimonte also noted that López is the first from the Latino community to hold a seat on the Logan City Council.
The festival originally started at the Logan City Library and has grown to amass Center Street in size, with the Parade of Flags being the most notable event of the day.
A woman interacts with the crowd at the Parade of Flags at the Cache Valley Latino Festival on Center Street in Logan on Saturday.
Parade performers line up with their country flags as they are announced and walk down Center Street, each country bringing what makes it unique in the form of traditional clothing, dance and language.
Parade members spanned young and old as families walked in celebration.
Mayor Anderson described the parade as his personal favorite part of the entire celebration. He fondly described how the crowd “goes crazy” as each country is announced.
“Just as Mayor Anderson said, all of us, united in this celebration of culture, of colors, of pride in our nations,” López said.
The festival is put on by Cache Valley Media Group and Juan 97.3 FM. It occurs annually in September because “many Latin American countries celebrate their independence in mid-September, and our festival will pay tribute to those celebrations,” as written on the Cache Valley Media Group website.
