VIDEO, PHOTOS: First-ever Festival CentroAmericano at Westcrest Park

(Video and photos by Leda Costa for WSB)

4:25 PM: You still have time to get to the first-ever Festival Centroamericano, scheduled until 7 pm at Westcrest Park in Highland Park! Photojournalist Leda Costa is covering it for WSB, starting with the video above, from Folklore Nicaragua‘s performance, so we’ll have photos later – but for now, go celebrate Central American culture in person, via music, dance, food, and more. The park’s at 9000 8th SW.

ADDED 11:20 PM: As promised, more photos:

WestSeattleBlog_FestivalCentroAmericano_15

WestSeattleBlog_FestivalCentroAmericano_23

WestSeattleBlog_FestivalCentroAmericano_11

While the dancing was popular, the food was an even-bigger draw, with long lines, and some vendors selling out. This is Lucero Teofilo, whose mother Rosia runs Franci’s Fresh Fruit:

WestSeattleBlog_FestivalCentroAmericano_34

WestSeattleBlog_FestivalCentroAmericano_64

Emceeing the event, Edgardo Armando Franco, known as “El General.” Also onstage were singers including Alfredo Chavez, who, before singing, offered a lesson in the art of the Panamanian Saloma, something like yodeling.

WestSeattleBlog_FestivalCentroAmericano_21

WestSeattleBlog_FestivalCentroAmericano_38

Below, holding the Guatamalan flag, that’s Kirby Fralick at right, posing with his friends from Chapines en Seattle, one of the vendor booths at the festival:

WestSeattleBlog_FestivalCentroAmericano_40

Another booth featured handmade Nicaraguan dolls by Inmaculada Cruz:

WestSeattleBlog_FestivalCentroAmericano_39

More festival scenes:

WestSeattleBlog_FestivalCentroAmericano_45

WestSeattleBlog_FestivalCentroAmericano_52

Mercedes Gonzalez, from Panama:

WestSeattleBlog_FestivalCentroAmericano_67

Organizers say this is not only our area’s first festival celebrating Central American culture, but the first one in our state, and they hope to do it again next year.

7 Replies to "VIDEO, PHOTOS: First-ever Festival CentroAmericano at Westcrest Park"

  • nw August 28, 2016 (5:14 pm)

    Great to see this diversity represented in West Seattle couldn’t make it hope to next year. Felicidades a Los Centro Americans celebrando en su conunidad!

  • HP neighbour August 28, 2016 (9:35 pm)

    Walked through the park with my dog. The festival was great! Would love to see this happen in our community again in the future!

  • dhg August 29, 2016 (9:03 am)

    Wow.  I really missed something this weekend. I had so much cleanup to do at home but if I’d known, i would’ve drop it for this.  It looks like fun.  Jubilee days should look more like this.

  • BlairJ August 29, 2016 (11:42 am)

    I saw people heading into the park, and wondered what was going on.  From the pictures it looks like just the kind of thing the neighborhood had been hoping would happen in that great space created by covering the reservoir.  If it happens there next year, we will definitely check it out!

  • VivaCentroAmerica August 29, 2016 (4:55 pm)

    Hello West Seattle Blog,

    Thanks for supporting us and coming to our festival. Very much appreciated. We love the pictures and it would have been great to see a group picture of the board members but it was a pretty busy day but an awesome one. Below are the names of the people that created this first-ever Central American festival in Seattle.

    Festival Centroamericano Organization:

    Luis Amado, Yoelin Connor, Maria Davis, Keylee Fernandez, Julio Richburg, and Argentina Smith.

  • John August 29, 2016 (10:42 pm)

    Do you have another site where we could see more videos or pictures? Or facebook!

  • DjGarifuna August 31, 2016 (11:46 am)

    Nice festival

    centroamericano

Sorry, comment time is over.