Latin America rejoices on Third Avenue

Independence days of several countries to be celebrated this Thursday with four-hour-long event

MOSES LAKE — Latin America will have its day on the streets of this city.

In the wake of the celebration of the Fiesta Mexicana this past weekend, the Latin community of the Columbia Basin will have another reason to celebrate.

The Basin's Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will commemorate one more anniversary of several Hispanic nations' independence days, including Mexico, with a "Fiesta de Las Americas," this Thursday on Moses Lake's Third Avenue and at Sinkiuse Square.

It will also kick off the National Hispanic Heritage Month, Gilberto Mendoza, treasurer of the chamber, said.

Fiesta de Las Americas will take place in conjunction with the last Third Thursday on Third, an event organized by the Moses Lake Business Association which brings local merchants to sell their products at booths on Third Avenue.

"We thought (the third Thursday) would be a great time to do this," said Hispanic Chamber member Alicia Rendon. "It could bridge the two cultures, exposing the local community more to the Hispanic community."

The fiesta will begin at 5 p.m. with an opening ceremony attended among others by the Mayor of Moses Lake, Ron Covey and the Mayor of Gunpo City, Korea, Yoon Joo Kim.

Two bands, Grupo Leyenda and Grupo Nivel, will be among the headliners, with Miss Teen Moses Lake Stephanie R'os, Erica Herrera, Ballet Mexico Lindo, Ballet Folklorico de Nuestra Se-ora de Fatima, the Catholic church in Moses Lake and discjockey Rick Rodr'guez filling out the rest of the program.

Local Mexican restaurants will compete in the Best Salsa in Town Contest, while participants will stuff themselves in a Tamale Eating Contest.

After the tamales, there will be a parade down Third Avenue, which will include groups such as the Washington Migrant HeadStart, the Ephrata chapter of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (Aztlan's Chicano Student Movement), the Latino Mentors Program, the recently crowned Queen and Princesses of Our Lady of Fatima's Sacred Heart Guild and students of the English as a second language department of Big Bend Community College.

There will be salsa dancing and kids' games available, as well, Rendon said.

The event is expected to close around 9 p.m. with the day's activities hopefully having brought many cultures closer, Mendoza said.

"(We are trying) to create an understanding not just among Hispanics," he said. "but between Hispanics and Anglo-Saxons, too."

Mendoza said he does not hope his organization will gather any significant money in the first year of the event. For now, he said, the focus is on helping this event grow into the future and to a point where it can make money for the chamber.

Right now, his focus and that of the organizers of the fiesta is on attracting people and creating "a bridge among the ethnic groups," he said.