(WSB/The South Park News photo from 2012 Lucha Libre)
August 17th will be another one of those HUGE days. Here in West Seattle, the Delridge Day festival (presented by the North Delridge Neighborhood Council with co-sponsors including WSB) is happening 11 am-4 pm at Delridge Community Center/Park, with this year’s Picnic at the Precinct co-locating there the same day. Meantime, our neighbors in South Park host the Duwamish River Festival noon-4 pm that day, with THIS big just-confirmed fun – a third year of Lucha Libre, Mexican-style masked wrestling following at 6 pm – read on for the official announcement:

: The South Park neighborhood will be hosting its 3rd annual lucha libre show on August 17th at 6 pm at the Duwamish Waterway Park immediately following the Duwamish River Festival. The show, titled Lucha Libre in the Park, will be 2 hours of lucha libre featuring the luchadors of Lucha Libre Volcánica, which is the only troupe in the Pacific Northwest that performs authentic Mexican lucha libre.

“South Park hosted our first large show, so we consider it our home turf — our ‘big stage’,” said Michael Leveton, Lucha Libre Volcánica’s Marketing Coordinator. “We’re thrilled to be back for a third year to share the art of lucha libre with our fans, and hopefully make some new fans in the process.”

Lucha libre is a highly acrobatic form of professional wrestling that started in Mexico. Its performers are often noted for wearing fantastical costumes, colorful masks, and performing dangerous highflying attacks on each other. Although relatively new to the US, in Mexico lucha libre’s popularity is second only to soccer.

Lucha Libre Volcánica was started in 2010 by coach José Luis Gómez. Gómez performed in Mexico for over 20 years, and after moving to the US, decided to start a school to teach lucha libre. The show is comprised of Gómez’s advanced students and other local professional luchadors, many of which have been performing professionally for several years. Gómez operates the School of Lucha Libre in Renton. Lucha Libre Volcánica currently has two large annual shows: a summer show in South Park, and a spring show at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. All of the performers live in the Puget Sound area.

South Park Arts and the residents of South Park sponsor Lucha Libre in the Park. The show is free and family friendly. Duwamish Waterway Park is at 7900 10th Ave S. Seattle, WA 98108. More information about the School of Lucha Libre can be found on Lucha Libre Volcánica’s website: www.luchavolcanica.com. They can also be found on Facebook: www.facebook.com/LuchaVolcanica.