Celebrating heritage

MOSES LAKE — The UMANI Festival will fill the streets of Moses Lake with music and color Sept. 28. 

The UMANI festival is a celebration of the area’s Hispanic cultures, which is why it’s scheduled during Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs between mid-September and mid-October. This is the third year the festival has taken place downtown. Last year about 3,000 people turned out, said Austin Foglesong, supervising librarian at the Moses Lake Public Library, which is one of the sponsors of the event. 

The performers are an eclectic lineup and reflect many different traditions, said Shawn Cardwell, director of Columbia Basin Allied Arts. Some are familiar from last year, including CeAtl Tonalli, a dance troupe out of Seattle that showcases traditions dating back to the Aztecs. They’ll be opening the festival, Cardwell said. 

Las Águilas, a mariachi from Eastern Washington University whose name translates, appropriately, to “The Eagles,” will be there as well, and Milongo, a fusion band from Spokane. The event will be emceed by local DJ Jerry De La Rosa. 

The UMANI Festival committee pulled off a major coup this year in booking La Muchacha, a singer from Colombia with a repertoire of social and protest music. La Muchacha, whose real name is Laura Isabel Ramirez Ocampo, is touring North America with Chicago-based Mid-Atlantic Arts this year, and CBAA was able to get a grant through them to bring her to Moses Lake, Cardwell said. 

“We're one of the only West Coast venues who's working with Mid-Atlantic artists, and we're just super stoked to have her,” Cardwell said. “She's really well known in the Spanish-speaking music community.” 

La Muchacha will also hold a guitar workshop in the afternoon, one of four workshops held during the day at the Obra Project, 205 S. Division St. The others are a hair and beauty workshop by Ulta Beauty, drawing calla lilies with Martha Flores and zapateado, a lively traditional dance from southern Spain. 

There will be a car show as well, drawing low rider enthusiasts from all over the west coast of the U.S. and Canada, and a beer garden highlighting beers from Latin America, said Mallory Miller, executive director of the Downtown Moses Lake Association, another organizer. 

New this year will be a demonstration of lucha libre, a flashy, high-intensity wrestling style from Mexico.  

“It's going to be amazing,” Cardwell said. “It is a professional full-size wrestling ring set up under lights on the streets of downtown Moses Lake. It’s crazy.” 

The lucha libre is the only event at UMANI that carries an admission charge, Cardwell said. Tickets range from $20 to $60, or patrons can reserve a table for six in the beer garden.  

Everything else is free, Cardwell said. There will be food and resource vendors, activities, games and arts and crafts, including a booth where attendees can decorate lucha masks. 

The UMANI festival is very much a team effort, including input from the library, Columbia Basin Allied Arts, the Downtown Moses Lake Association, city of Moses Lake, the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center and several other agencies, as well as some private businesses.  

“When we got together and just started thinking about things that we needed to do downtown, a celebration of Hispanic heritage was the first thing kind of that came up,” Cardwell said. “Everyone just knew that it was so important.” 

“It's nice to have a little diverse representation to help bring in those different voices and give us some cool directions to take the event for future years,” Foglesong said. 

    Lowriders gleam in the sun during the car show at last year’s UMANI Festival. This year’s show, which is Sept. 28, is expected to draw low rider enthusiasts from as far away as California and Canada.
  

    JJ Garza, left, and Uriah Santino, right, navigate the leaning tower of Jenga at the games provided by the city of Moses Lake’s mobile recreation van during last year’s UMANI Festival.