TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — On Sunday at the Mercado San Augustin Annex on the Westside, Latino music could be heard in the plaza. If someone stepped inside, they could see Chicano-owned businesses and a fashion show. Right outside the show were lowrider cars and other types of vintage cars.
“The culture brings all of us together,” Arlene Garms said.
Garms owns Garms Charms Designs and was one of the businesses at the Chicano Vibez Festival. She incorporates a lot of Hispanic designs into her charms that are on earrings such as pan dulce, papel picado, and piñatas.
“It just represents why we’re here. The culture of everything that I do,” Garms said.
Albert Lopez was also there as a brand ambassador for On My Level, which sells workout clothes. Lopez also sings, and just dropped his first few music videos last year, incorporating Mexican-American culture into them.
“As a business owner you have to be wiling to be open minded and see and learn from other businesses,” Lopez said. “I just want to give Tucson artists the bigger platform to put their music out there.”
Some people like Patty Cisneros were visiting Tucson and got the opportunity to see what Tucson’s Chicano culture is about.
“There’s just so much pride that goes into everything that we do,” Cisneros said. “I feel at home. Any booth that I’ve gone into, it just makes me feel like I’m at my tias house, or my mom’s house.”
There was also a car competition with many low riders bouncing up and down in the streets, a big crowd of people cheering them on.
“Us Latinos, Mexicans from Tucson, and not just Tucson, all over Arizona, everywhere, come from different backgrounds and heritages, but the best thing about that is that we all have a love for cars and it brings us together,” Michelle Ochoa said.
Her friend Mercedez judged the car competition, saying it’s nostalgic to be around the types of cars that she grew up with.
“The low riders going up and down the streets, hitting switches, it being your goal to go to work so you were able to get a car, fix it up,” she said.
Everyone at the festival said being Chicano means supporting people that come from the same background.
“That represents what we are, community, the love for each other,” Garms said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
