Thousands gathered Sunday under the smooth sounds of the oldies in celebration of community and culture at the 3rd annual Chicano Heritage Festival.
This year’s festival at Centennial Park featured a lowrider cruise and show, community art, cultural exhibits, a kids zone, food and live music performances.
Santa Ana was the first city to declare August Chicano Heritage Month in 2021, with the City of Anaheim following their lead.
The festival’s attendance has continued to grow over the past three years, with an estimated 8,500 people showing up this year compared to 6,000 in 2022.
Last year, the festival included a mural unveiling and was held at El Salvador Park.
[Read: A Time For Chicanos and Chicanas]
Since then, Santa Ana officials have recognized more residents in the area.
Just last week, Santa Ana City Council recognized neighborhood leaders from the Artesia Pilar Neighborhood, including Chicana muralist, Marina Aguilera, and resident leaders like Ruby Woo, Letty Plascencia, Lucy Solorzano, Trish Morales, Nancy Phan, Jose Diaz and Ester Fonseca.
“This is a monumental time for Mexican-Americans and multigenerational Chicanos, specifically the City of Santa Ana made history and in taking the bold steps for us to acknowledge the sacrifices, the plights and the struggles that Mexican Americans have endured to make this country what it is,” said Councilmember Johnathan Ryan Hernandez during the August 6 city council meeting
“Today the city of Santa Ana proclaims August as Chicano heritage month. We acknowledge the wealth and the achievements of Chicanos, the outstanding wealth of Chicano culture, the diversity of Chicano people and the contributions to the civil rights activists who have advanced the Chicano movement.”
The City of Anaheim also continues to recognize Chicano Heritage Month this year through community mural painting at the East Anaheim Branch Library, in addition to storytimes and other educational programming.
“Anaheim is strong because of our diversity,” said Mayor Ashleigh Aitken in an email. “When we celebrate Chicano heritage month, we are both honoring the contributions of our Chicano residents—our business owners, teachers, artists, students and parents-as well as signaling that Anaheim is a welcoming city that embraces all.”
The term Chicano, originally used as a derogatory term to describe working-class Mexicans of Spanish-speaking neighborhoods, was reclaimed in the 1960s during the birth of the Chicano Movement.
But the community changed that, said Gilbert Belmontes, board member at Chicanxs Unidxs, a group promoting cultural empowerment in Orange County
“Way back, we weren’t even known as Chicanos,” Belmontes said in an interview. “We had to self-identify.”
Activism is ingrained within Chicanismo.
Activists like Gonzalo and Jovita Valles, who won one of the first battles against racial segregation through the case Lopez v. Seccombe, allowing their children to use recreational facilities.
Or Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez and local Orange County families like William and Virginia Guzman who led efforts to desegregate schools in the landmark case Mendez Vs. Westminster.
The Guzmans were residents of Artesia Pilar – a historically Chicano neighborhood – and took action against Santa Ana schools.
Eight years before Brown vs. Board of Education, Mexican-Americans in Southern California were already pushing against school segregation in court.
Others, like civil rights activists Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez, fought for farm laborers and founded the United Farm Workers Union.
“It’s important for us to celebrate Chicano culture to celebrate our roots and the sacrifices made for us by our ancestors,” said Leo Robledo, a freelance street photographer whose work was displayed at the festival’s community art show.
Residents can learn more about the impacts of Chicano activism and culture at an educational celebration Aug. 29 – the anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium, an anti-war demonstration during which 20,000 to 30,000 Mexican-Americans marched through East Los Angeles in protest of the Vietnam War.
Ruben Salazar, a Mexican-American Los Angeles Times journalist who was covering the protest, was killed that day by a tear gas projectile fired by Los Angeles County Sheriffs that were called to the scene.
“The significance of Chicanismo is that it is a mindset and a culture that we live,” said Melissa Nolan, board member at Chicanxs Unidxs, in an interview.
“It’s beautiful that we are having these kinds of events because it’s important we understand our past, and how we are going to move into our future.”
Editor’s note: Ashleigh Aitken’s father, Wylie Aitken, chairs Voice of OC’s board of directors.
Erika Taylor is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow and photojournalist. You can find her on Instagram @camerakeepsrolling or email at etaylor@voiceofoc.org