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Say hola to new Vancouver celebration of all things Latino

By Scott Hewitt, Columbian staff writer
Published: August 18, 2017, 6:05am
7 Photos
“Put your beer down on the table and get yourself out there to dance,” says ¡Viva Vancouver! organizer Diana Avalos.
“Put your beer down on the table and get yourself out there to dance,” says ¡Viva Vancouver! organizer Diana Avalos. The Columbian files Photo Gallery

Starting tonight at Vancouver Landing: ?Dos dias de la hora feliz!

Put another way: Two days of happy hour!

Organizers of this weekend’s ¡Viva Vancouver! Festival want to build a bridge between cultures here in Southwest Washington. What better way, they figure, than through food and drink, music and dance?

“For two days, you don’t have to think about work or the bills or customers or your deadlines,” said organizer Domingo Estrada. Whether your primary language is English or Spanish, he said, “Just come and relax and have a good time. That’s the vibe we want.”

Estrada, who works for Columbia Beverage Distributing, is excited about a new ¡Viva Vancouver! IPA that’s been brewed up by Urban Hopworks especially for this event; other Mexican-style but totally local craft beers will be available too — such as a Full Sail Mexican lager whose label proudly announces that it’s “hecho (made) en Hood River.”

Beverage makers are finally waking up to the untapped purchasing power of Latinos, Estrada said. But “tropical sounds” have been part of the Northwest music scene for years, he added, and two of the area’s premiere salsa bands will appear at ¡Viva Vancouver! on Aug. 19.

If You Go

What: ¡Viva Vancouver! Festival.

When: 4 to 10 p.m. Aug. 18; noon to 10 p.m. Aug. 19.

Where: Vancouver Landing amphitheater, 110 Columbia St.

Tickets: Regular admission, $15 per day or $25 for two days; VIP admission (reserved seating, food and drink) $40 or $75.

On the web: https://vivavancouverfestival.com, www.facebook.com/vivavancouverfestival

Hispanic population:

Clark County: Nearly 42,000 = 9%

Washington: 835,488 =12%

United States: 54 million = 17%

Source: 2015 American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau)

But first, at 6 p.m. Aug. 18, a popular young Portland mixmaster named DJ Denver will blend Spanish- and English-language grooves.

Then, at 5 p.m. Aug. 19, it’s Conjunto Alegre with bandleader, singer and multi-instrumentalist Aquiles Montas. After that, at 7 p.m., headliner the Pura Vida Orquestra takes the stage.

Both of these bands are big, bold and diverse, with members hailing from all over the place, down there: Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico — not to mention Portland itself. They are masters of the diverse styles of dance music that most white Americans don’t really grasp — like salsa, merengue, bachata, cumbia, cha-cha-cha and bolero.

All of which will “make you put your beer down on the table and get yourself out there to dance,” said co-organizer Diana Avalos.

Breaking stereotypes

It’s all aimed at raising awareness, dollars and youthful Latino spirits, Avalos said. That’s long overdue in this area, she said.

Avalon, who works as engagement relations coordinator for Vancouver Public Schools, moved here from Los Angeles 25 years ago. Eight years ago, she said, “I founded a nonprofit to provide engagement and resources for Latino youth in our community.” The focus is to “help support youth of color graduate from high school,” pursue post-secondary education and ultimately score satisfying, rewarding careers, she said — as well as to simply make positive choices about life and behavior.

Such organizations have been around a long time in big cities such as Portland and Seattle, she said, but there was “nothing local. Nothing with a sense of, this is ours, this is Clark County, this is Southwest Washington.”

Her organization, Clark County Latino Youth Leadership Conference, has done a lot with a little, sponsoring numerous special events such as an annual youth conference, visiting guest speakers and even leadership training courses for Latino parents. But grant and sponsorship support has always trickled in slowly, Avalos said; meanwhile, she and her friend Estrada noted the soaring popularity of local festivals — brewfests, craft-beer-and-wine fests, wine-and-jazz fests, weird-beer fests — and brainstormed the idea of generating more funds and awareness through a new downtown happening with a distinctly Latino flavor.

“We want to bring a sense of Latin culture and food and beverage and fun to the Vancouver community,” she said. That’s especially crucial at this moment in history, she added, as illegal immigration and President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall put a negative spin on all things Mexican.

“We want to break down the stereotypes,” she said. “Latin America is more than just Mexico. It’s different foods, different beers, different cultures, different people.”

If this year’s event goes well, organizers said, it’ll be back and even bigger next year. “We’d love to make this an annual festival for the whole community,” Avalos said.

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