Paso Robles will co-sponsor the annual Hispanic Heritage Festival this year, and Mujeres de Accion’s heritage and awareness celebration will be held at City Park for the first time on Sept. 15.
Local nonprofit Mujeres de Accion has hosted annual heritage celebrations in other locations for Hispanic Heritage Month since 2022, and due to its increasing numbers of attendance, the organization requested city sponsorship and the central location of City Park for its upcoming Hispanic Heritage Festival.
Paso Robles City Council unanimously approved its co-sponsorship on July 16, and council members expressed excitement and support for the September event.
“Our downtown park location is the absolute perfect place,” Councilmember Sharon Roden said. “I think it is going to be a great success.”
Councilmember Chris Bausch said, “I look forward to the day when downtown park isn’t big enough.”
Mujeres de Accion Founder Yessenia Echevarria told New Times, that the festival is “definitely something very local, and this just comes to celebrate the diversity that makes our community so special. And with a very growing and strong unity, it is important to have a celebration much like this one we have.”
According to Echevarria, while the festival will be held in Paso Robles, anyone is welcome to join.
“This is a family event that, I would say, means a lot to so many, because obviously our culture is very rich and vibrant, and so to have an event dedicated to honoring our identities, as well as our culture in an authentic way is very, very important to us,” she said.
Mujeres de Accion has hosted smaller events in previous years at venues such as Sherwood Park and has drawn more than 800 attendees.
“It’s been very humbling to see the amount of support. I think there definitely is a desire for this type of event, which is why the attendance is there,” she said. “We want to bring together all different types of cultures together to honor a very prominent community, which is very strong in the North County.”
Echevarria said this event is designed for locals during a time in which tourism has been a priority within the area.
“So it definitely adds another element to shining light to the community,” she said.
According to Paso Robles Public Works Director Freda Burman, while the city’s co-sponsorship of the event is not monetary, the event can take place at City Park and be advertised on the city’s website and on a downtown banner at Spring and First streets.
Last year’s event theme was “See Us, Hear Us,” advocating for the needs of the community. The theme for the upcoming festival has yet to be announced. ∆
This article appears in Jul 18-28, 2024.