Latino Arts Festival Celebrates Vibrant Culture

The Kansas City area’s Chicanx culture is a fusion of tradition and art.

This fusion took center stage at the Latino Arts Festival on Saturday. Horses nodded and pranced to the beat of banda on the grassy side of Bethany Park in Kansas City, Kansas. Lowriders lined the street close by, hoods agape, chrome shining and oldies blaring in the background.

Spectators escaped the heat beneath blue and white canopies that dotted the park. Mariachis strummed their guitars and singers crooned their version of “Juana la Cubana,” made popular by the ’80s Mexican cumbia musician Fito Olivares.

A crowd of almost 500 attendees bobbed in and out of art booths, food stands and flocked to a Jalisco-style juice and drink truck, Yuyas Tepache y Tejuino – a mainstay on Central Avenue.

For the past three years, Deanna and Aaron Muñoz have thrown a festival for Latinx and Chicanx artists – ranging from painters to musicians to lowrider creators. It was also the site of the Dotteversity Parade.

This year, the event boasted nearly 100 lowriders – custom trucks, cars and bikes – by creators from Kansas City, such as KC Estilo, as well as lowrider clubs from around the U.S.