Carson City’s first Latino Fest celebrating culture and community will be held 4 to 9 p.m. Aug. 29 and 30 at Fuji Park, 601 Old Clear Creek Road, according to organizing group SAC Events LLC.
Denise Ruiz of Carson City, a tax worker who helps clients obtain business licenses, said the inaugural event is an opportunity for residents to explore Latino offerings, including crafts, food and live entertainment.
“We started talking about it three or four months ago, and we started planning and getting in contact and making things happening, getting in contact with vendors and businesses,” Ruiz said. “We even went to Reno and spread the word. Once we did, we got a good response.”
The draw is for Latin cultures primarily from Carson City and Reno, but anyone is welcome, she said.
“I think absolutely there’s an amazing community for Latin American people,” Ruiz said. “I think we have a strong community and we are just missing activities and opportunities for our people to be together, to be not just as one people but it should be for everyone.”
Businesses contacted for the event include food vendors, crafts and hobbies, musicians and dancers, stylists specializing in face painting or jewelry and clothes makers.
“I think I’m really excited to not just see everything get put together but excited to see people react to it, not just people who are Latino, but anybody wherever to see how they react to it, too, and to see if it in the next couple of years expand to something bigger,” Ruiz said.
