Fiesta Broadway
| Fiesta Broadway | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Festival |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Downtown Los Angeles |
| Coordinates | 34°03′13″N 118°14′44″W / 34.05361°N 118.24556°WCoordinates: 34°03′13″N 118°14′44″W / 34.05361°N 118.24556°W |
| Country | United States |
| Years active | 27 |
| Established | 1990 |
Fiesta Broadway is an annual event held in downtown Los Angeles to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, Mexican culture and Latin American culture in general. Modeled on Miami’s Calle Ocho Festival and hearkening back to the early 20th-century Fiesta de Los Angeles, it features vendors and musical acts. At its peak, Fiesta Broadway stretched for 36 blocks centered on a long stretch of Broadway and attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors. More recently it has been confined to a few blocks around 1st Street and Broadway and has seen attendance shrink to as little as 7,000. Although the holiday of Cinco de Mayo falls on May 5, which is the meaning of its Spanish name, Fiesta Broadway is always held on the last Sunday in April, since 1995.
1990: The first L.A. Fiesta Broadway drew a crowd that was estimated at 500,000. This was the first large-scale attempt to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Los Angeles. A partnership of city officials, KMEX-TV and downtown merchants paid for the $1 million festival, which was taped and telecast over the Spanish-language Univision Network.
1991: The second L.A. Fiesta Broadway cost $2 million and stretched over 36 blocks from Temple Street to Olympic Boulevard, along Hill Street, Broadway and Spring Street. The first year’s festival had occupied only 12 blocks on Broadway.The array of performers included the Latin American sensation Xuxa, Lucha Villa, La Prieta Linda and jazz greats Tito Puente and Poncho Sanchez. Other entertainers representing 15 Latin American countries included Fandango, José José and Johnny Canales.
1992: An estimated 600,000 people turned out, attracted in part by a variety of musical acts on nine stages, including Menudo and Selena. Many corporations also sponsored booths at the event.
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