While many of the roughly 300 who came to the Cinco de Mayo celebration at Heber City Main Street Park to celebrate their Mexican heritage, 13-year-old Guillermo Osorio was just there for the lucha libre.

He’d been waiting impatiently since he saw the flyer last month. His life’s dream is to add an actual, gold-plated WWE belt to his collection of Walmart replicas. 

Osorio’s brother and parents have repeatedly asked him whether he wants to become a wrestler, but he’s still not sure. If he did, his persona would be Niño Hamburguesa Con Queso — Cheeseburger Kid (not to be confused with Mexican pro wrestler Niño Hamburguesa).

“My friends are making fun of me,” Osorio explained, holding a shiny, red luchador mask. “They can call me cheeseburger, but I don’t care.”

Osorio was determined to find his new favorite wrestler among the crowd of competing luchadores from Lucha Libre Utah. By the end of the night, he had his answer: Big Country, an overall-clad hillbilly in a sleeveless plaid shirt.

Big Country’s opponent was the terrifying Slasher Slade, a KISS reject with an appetite for human flesh.

“Do you see your dinner?” asked the announcer, Jagger Lane, as Slasher Slade came onstage and leered at the crowd. Then, he held Slasher Slade back when he approached some kids in the front row, teeth bared, malice in his eyes.

Although the ring was set up on the park’s stage, very little of Big Country and Slasher Slade’s battle took place there. Instead, they duked it out in the crowd. 

At one point, a little girl in the front row shot one of the luchadores with a bubble gun, and he mimed being impaled by dozens of machine gun rounds. Then, Big Country politely asked the girl for the gun, grabbed it and slammed the stock in his opponent’s face. 

Everyone was in on the mock violence. At one point, a luchador picked up a short, skinny high schooler and used his body as a battering ram.

Wasatch High School senior Jazmine Parks was calmly selling $5 ringside tickets amid the chaos. Proceeds from the tickets went directly to the school’s Latinos In Action club, of which Parks is president, for activities and events.

The club was invited to participate in the Cinco de Mayo celebration by Community Alliance for Main Street Executive Director Rachel Kahler, who organized the event. 

“As high school students, being able to have an impact like this and grow in a community like this and bring everyone together is really nice,” Parks said. “Having all of the support is really great in hard times like this.”

To Parks, whose mother is Mexican American, Cinco de Mayo represents an opportunity to spend time with loved ones and celebrate Mexican culture. Her family usually celebrates the holiday with a cookout, serving traditional food and dancing to Mexican music.

Parks said she is hopeful an event like Heber City’s Cinco de Mayo celebration can foster cultural appreciation.

“Speaking to my family about (Fourth of July), they’re like, ‘It’s cool that they have fireworks,’ because it’s more of an American tradition,” she said. “I feel like Americans will find what we do pretty cool, and I feel like they’ll start engaging. Even seeing how many people there are here today, of all different ethnicities, it’s really cool.”

Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexico’s 1862 victory over French invaders in the Battle of Puebla, though it is often mistaken for Mexican Independence Day, which is celebrated on Sept. 16 and commemorates the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence in 1810.

“A lot of people just say, ‘Hey, Cinco de Mayo. Let’s drink,’” explained Heber City resident Alvaro Carbajal. “The whole story behind it is more (like) we won a battle (against) one of our oppressors. … It was a step closer to liberation.”

Carbajal has Mexican heritage, but he doesn’t typically celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Despite that, he was heartened to see Heber City recognizing its Mexican American residents.

“The Hispanic community in Heber has been growing exponentially,” he said. 

One piece of evidence for that, he said, is Wasatch County School District’s expansion of its Spanish dual-immersion programs available from kindergarten through 12th grade. The programs began in 2008 and offer half of the instruction in English and the other half in Spanish to ensure fluency in both languages. 

When Carbajal went to Midway Elementary School, the only option available to him was English as a Second Language. Now, when his 5-year-old son begins at J.R. Smith Elementary School, Carbajal plans to enroll him in the dual immersion program.

For Carbajal, Heber City’s Cinco de Mayo celebration represented unity.

“It gives me hope that cultures can actually coexist together and not just look (at) the stigma that most Hispanics have,” he said. “It gives me hope to see people enjoying some of our culture, things like our food, our entertainment as well. They’re just having a blast.”

Kahler felt that sense of unity as well.

“I saw so many people that didn’t know each other talking to each other and such a melding of cultures, which is really what we wanted,” she said.

Kahler was inspired to organize the event to celebrate and highlight the Latino community.

Kahler was reminded of that purpose when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested at least four people in Heber City on April 21. Afterward, Kahler attended a Zoom meeting with Police Chief Parker Sever and Sheriff Jared Rigby to listen to the concerns of representatives from Wasatch Latino Coalition.

The current administration has cracked down on illegal immigration through ICE, which has been criticized for using tactics such as racial profiling to detain and deport Latinos.

“It really felt like it was a heavy year for the Latino community. A lot of things are happening that are out of our control. There’s a lot of fear. And I feel like, as a community, we really need to see them and step up,” Kahler said. “This felt like an opportunity to both recognize their culture and embrace their culture and embrace them as people.”

The post Heber City celebrates Cinco de Mayo with luchadores galore appeared first on Park Record.

The energy at Wasatch High School Latinos in Action’s celebration of cultures showcase on Friday instantly topped that of many live shows. 

There was no awkward head-bobbing or distracted chatting from the crowd packed into the school auditorium. Instead, there were screams of support from parents holding bouquets, dancing in the audience and cheering that rivaled the Super Bowl. 

When Wasatch High School ninth grader and resident hype man Jafet Farías wandered on stage in a blazer and sunglasses to belt out Don Omar’s 2010 hit “Danza Kuduro” for the first act, the entire auditorium lit up with phone flashlights dancing like a swarm of excited fireflies.

Timpagonos Middle School student Salome Urquijo was a tad more timid than Farías was. 

Wearing a colorful traditional Mexican dress and flower crown, the 12-year-old student danced with the girls in Andres Caceres’ Latinos in Action class. Meanwhile, the boys donned masks resembling elderly men and sombreros, which they twirled on canes like spinning plates during the Michoacán folk dance Danza de los Viejitos (Dance of the Little Old Men).

Urquijo said they planned the dance for a year, but she still had stage fright.

“There are so many people here,” she said beforehand. “It’s people bigger than me, and I feel nervous.”

Wasatch High School Latinos in Action teacher Ana Alejandre said giving students a safe space to share their talents was one of the reasons she founded the cultural showcase four years ago.

“There’s a teacher friend of mine. She said, ‘This, for some kids, is going to be the only time that they really perform in their life on a stage where they have this many people watching them,'” Alejandre said. “Just to see them feeling so proud up there, it’s like, ‘Yes. That’s what we’re here to do.'”

Alejandre also founded the cultural showcase to foster interest in Wasatch High School’s Latinos in Action class.

Latinos in Action is a national program focused on empowering Latino youth through four pillars: leveraging personal and cultural assets, excelling in education, serving the community and developing leadership skills. Wasatch High School’s Latinos in Action class was founded about a decade ago, with Alejandre beginning to teach it four years ago.

“The first year that I taught Latinos in Action, none of this was happening. … Kids didn’t sign up for (Latinos in Action). I had to invite students to join,” Alejandre said. 

But once the group started holding the annual cultural showcase four years ago, kids became interested in the class. The showcase itself became wildly popular, with Alejandre estimating that this year’s crowd was three times the size of the first showcase’s. 

There were a few poetry and vocal performances, like the guitar-strumming and serenading of Wasatch High School senior Yandell Parra’s three-man band, Grupo CLAY, but the bulk of performances were dance numbers.

A standout performance was by a group featuring Wasatch High School alumni Milly Vieyra and Mayra Castro. The group performed a dance popular during July festivities in Guerrero, Mexico, when residents celebrate the saint Sr. Santiago Apostol. 

The group wore heavy, handmade sombreros that looked as if they were made of orange flowers, as well as wooden masks that distort their voices to sound deeper when they yell. They danced to a repetitive flute and drum melody, stomping the ground to represent growing flowers and cracking whips to imitate lightning.

“Every dance has a story behind it,” Castro said. “We’re basically representing the farmers.”

It wasn’t just students and alumni who danced, but school district employees, too.

High school counselor Angie Orjuela-Beltran performed a dance number with her fiance, father and mother. 

“Sometimes resources are not available for (students) because of the language. So, the job that they are doing helping them is amazing. I really love and admire my daughter,” said Angie’s father, Carlos Orjuela. 

Dance became a staple of the Orjuela family as soon as they immigrated to the United States about 20 years ago.

“We were not dancers before, but then, when we came, basically, we realized that dance is something that is joining the family together,” he said. “We enjoy it. So we dance on every occasion that we have the opportunity.”

Assistant High School Principal McKenzie Neiufi also performed a dance number with her family, though they had much less practice, according to her husband, Amoni. He learned about the showcase earlier that evening, when he’d just gotten home from work. The family practiced for about an hour before they were thrust into the spotlight. 

The Neiufis performed a Polynesian dance number to “Mate Ma’a Tonga” by Tupou Loto’aniu and made it through about half of the dance onstage. 

“There’s still more to that dance,” Amoni said. “Maybe next year, we’ll do the whole thing.”

The Neiufis’ performance was an example of how the culture night was for everyone, despite being organized by Latinos in Action. 

Junior Aim Jivon got the crowd clapping along as she sang Thai pop songs, while sophomore Daigh Marshall performed Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” in American Sign Language as twelfth grader Avery Green jammed on the piano. 

For Alejandre, the “culture” in culture night refers to Wasatch High School’s culture as well.

She grew up in Ogden after her family immigrated to the United States from Michoacán, Mexico, when she was 8 years old. She estimated that her family was one of five immigrant families in her school district. There certainly wasn’t a cultural showcase back then; her heritage felt like a secret she had to keep. 

When she began teaching in the school district, she was pleasantly surprised by the number of Hispanic students and the variety of cultures students came from.

“You can see that kids are just into it. They want other people to see. They want to show what they know because it’s hard to any other place,” Alejandre said. “That’s part of the school.”

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The Arts Council of Park City & Summit County wrapped up the annual Latino Arts Festival on Sunday after a vibrant weekend of celebrating Latin American culture and its contributions, featuring local vendors, food trucks, artists and performers who each added their own unique flavor.

The opening day of the festival was dedicated entirely to the country of Brazil, providing an in depth exploration of the traditional dances and music, like samba and capoeira, from its diverse regions.

“We are proud to be here to represent not only our country, but our deep love for its culture, music, dance and tradition,” said a spokesperson for dance group Aquarela do Brasil. “Today we invite you on a cultural journey through the colors, rhythms and stories of Brazil.”

Earlier this year, event organizers questioned whether or not to move forward with the event given the tense political climate and rising fears within the Latino community. After receiving encouraging feedback from the artists, who expressed that now, more than ever, cultural visibility and unity matters, organizers chose to hold the events as usual.

From start to finish, the three-day festival showcased dozens of performances representing a variety of cultures and countries including Chile, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Argentina and Puerto Rico — inviting those familiar with the traditions, and those experiencing them for the first time, to sway their hips or at least nod along to a new beat.

The crowd returned refreshed and ready for action each day, despite the weekend heat, as a new lineup of performers brought fresh energy to the Canyons Village Forum stage.

Attendees explored the event by sampling food and refreshments, and by visiting the dozens of artist and vendor booths in the grassy plaza by the stage and El Mercadito, a market experience introduced to the festival this year.

Pamela Echegaray, owner of jewelry business La Cuna, which was part of El Mercadito, said that her experience at the festival was overwhelmingly positive. Many attendees complimented her work and expressed how meaningful they found it. 

Echegaray said she feels grateful that people can see themselves reflected in the product, noting that, for her, this sense of identity is a reward in itself.

The diversity of the festival audience seemed to reflect a sense of unity despite differences, Echegaray noted. She emphasized the importance of community support, especially for Latino-owned small businesses, many of which rely on events like the festival as their primary source of income. 

“By supporting small businesses, you’re supporting a family behind it,” Echegaray said.

Over 20 artists and artisans filled the mercadito tent where several free art workshops, portrait drawings and face painting were also being held. 

Spanish artist Jairo Dealba, who has participated in the arts festival for the past three years, said his favorite part of the event is the sense of community. 

“It’s been really good, very smooth,” he said, speaking about this year’s festival. “It’s been really peaceful, really amicable, everybody’s super friendly, very accepting.”

Adding to his thoughts about the festival and what keeps him coming back, Dealba added that he’s grown closer and closer with the people every year.

“That gives us a sense of like, ‘We have to do this every year.’ It’s like our duty, and then we come, and it gets better and better every time,” he said.

Now in its ninth year, the Latino Arts Festival continues to serve as a cultural bridge. Its welcoming atmosphere reaches beyond the artist community and into the broader public.

“It’s really cool to have the opportunity to see so many different things in one place and experience things that are out of your normal worldview,” said attendee Chantal Menlove. “And get to see these people that have created lives here.”

The festival coincided with nationwide “No Kings” protests on Saturday, which were held in Park City, Heber City and Kamas as well as in Salt Lake City. Though the timing was unplanned, the overlap underscored the urgency and relevance of the weekend’s celebration.

“More than anything, I love to see how much love is shown to everybody,” said Park City resident Carla Good. “To see everybody feel welcome and people wanting to know where you’re from, what you’re doing here, why your art is a certain way. It makes you forget everything that is going on around this country right now, and makes you feel love and accepted and welcome, and that’s amazing.”

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Oldest of three siblings, an eager reader and helper of people, Jenifer Heredia is the bilingual community relations specialist at Peace House. Embedded in her passion for service is her story, one with many firsts. 

Heredia’s parents moved to Heber when she was 3 years old because her father had family there, and they eventually decided to lay roots in nearby Park City. Now, 26 years later, Park City has become more than a home and a place much too special to leave. 

“Growing up in Park City was such a great experience in the sense of being surrounded by the outdoors and the mountains,” said Heredia. “There’s so many great places to go, especially as a kid, it’s like we have this giant playground in our backyard.” 

Heredia went through the whole Park City school system, attending McPolin Elementary School, Ecker Hill, Treasure Mountain and Park City High School. 

As an elementary school student during the 2002 Winter Olympics, she helped form part of McPolin history by painting tiles with skiers and snowmen for a mural that still decorates the school’s wall today. 

Expressing fondness of those early memories, Heredia said she felt that kids were always so warm and inviting. 

“I have always been a talker and a people person,” said Heredia, “so growing up, it was never really hard for me to make friends. I was always wanting to invite people in and get to know people and really find the niches of what makes them light up.” 

Heredia said her earliest and most cherished memories involve spending time with her family. As a child, she enjoyed exploring town with friends, playing volleyball or basketball at City Park, rollerblading with her dad and sisters, and visiting Dolly’s Bookstore whenever she had the chance.

“I always spent my time at Dolly’s, so that gives me such a sense of nostalgia,” said Heredia.

Heredia describes books as her “saving grace” — they were a way for her to dive into a world completely different from her own. 

“Books bring that luxury of being immersed in this separate world, whether you can picture it in your head or not, you’re immersed in such a different story. My goal right now in my adult life is to have enough books where I can be considered a library. And I looked it up, and apparently it’s a thousand books,” she said with a laugh.

Heredia credits her sense of independence and responsibility to the freedom she had growing up in Park City. 

“We would walk to places. We would ride our bikes to places. It all felt very connected in that sense,” she said. “That’s really what I appreciate about Park City the most is having that freedom as a kid and teenager. I think that also gave everybody a sense of responsibility.”

Heredia had two examples of hard-working parents, which shaped her willingness and determination to work hard, her father especially. 

“He was definitely one of those people that was just like, ‘I’m going to work hard in order for my kids to grow up with more than I had,’ and I feel like that’s the trend with Hispanic parents,” she said. “It’s, ‘How do I give my kids more? How do I make sure that they have everything they need and then some?’” 

As a first-generation child and being the eldest of three siblings, Heredia was the first to accomplish, learn and help with many things in her family. 

“I grew up being the translator for my family most of the time, translating legal documents, tax documents, really the documents that I had no business translating,” she said.

Heredia reflected on her sense of being caught between identities and the struggle to feel fully accepted as both Latino and American. She can relate to many things that first generation families and young Latino kids may experience growing up in Park City, and this has greatly influenced how she approaches her work today, she said.

“Even creating that space for the Mexican Americans, the Latino Americans growing up in this day and age, to know that they’re enough, knowing that they’re Latino enough, that they’re American enough, that everything that we do is enough. We’re doing it with the knowledge that everybody else got but also with the burdens that we carry from our childhood or the burdens that we carry from our family, so I feel like we’re doing more than enough,” she said.

She grew up with the belief that she had to work exceptionally hard because despite having the same opportunities as other kids, her heritage and the color of her skin meant she would face additional challenges. She was taught that achieving entry-level jobs would require 10 times the effort and that she had to accept this reality.

Since her own childhood, Heredia said, she has observed a positive shift in today’s world: Younger generations recognize their worth and are more willing to stand up against injustice. She noted that there are now many more resources and activities available for kids.

While the Latino/Hispanic community in Park City has grown, Heredia emphasized that it was never a small community. There have always been many hard-working individuals, whether behind the scenes or not, she said.

Housing is currently one of the biggest hindrances not only for the Latino community, but for the broader community as well, with exorbitant costs for even so-called affordable-housing options. 

“I’ve known people I grew up with who have family that can no longer afford to live here, so they move to Salt Lake or Heber, which is quickly becoming the next Park City and is equally as expensive,” she said. “If anything, what might change Park City is that it might become too expensive to live here, and then we might see a decline in the community that way.”

“I love Park City!” she exclaimed. “And there’s moments that we’re like, ‘Oh, I want to move away,’ but then it’s like, ‘Where do I move to that offers the same thing that you grew up with?’ It’s definitely one of those things where I could move and make a home there, but it’s never going to be the same.”

As Heredia moved into her adult life, she saw herself building a career in retail, but when her work came to a halt during the pandemic, she thought twice.

Heredia found her way to Peace House through a friend who told her about an open advocate position and encouraged her to apply. 

“It was definitely one of those moments of like, ‘What the heck is an advocate?’” said Heredia. “I told myself, ‘You know what, it’s in between COVID. Let’s try it. Let’s see what it looks like.’”

Heredia was aware of Peace House and remembered seeing their old location on Main Street when she was younger. She found herself eager to learn more about the nonprofit, what it offered, and how she could contribute to the organization in her new role as an advocate.

“When I started here, the list of questions I had was like, ‘OK, how does this work? How does this run? What is my role?’ And it honestly lit a fire in me,” she said.

Heredia knew that she wanted to work with people. She wanted to help people achieve independence in their lives and find confidence. 

“I want to be that push forward for somebody to feel like they can do it by themselves, that they aren’t defined by their situation. It’s not about what happened to them. It’s what you do from that situation that matters,” she said.

Beginning in February, Heredia transitioned into her new role as a bilingual community relations specialist. In this capacity, she launched a program called Puente Comunitario, which furthers her efforts to build community and connect people with available resources. 

“Growing up, I saw my parents really struggling to find all these resources,” said Heredia. “Whether that be like an English class, trying to find dental care, health care that was in a close proximity but also worked with people that didn’t have insurance, was very hard.” 

With Puente Comunitario, she envisions creating a place where everyone in the community feels welcome, heard and free from judgment or learning barriers. She sees a future where, if someone needs help, regardless of the situation, they will know exactly where to find it. Heredia explained that individuals often have to choose between resources due to logistical issues or lack of information, and she aims to close that gap.

“Yes, (at Peace House) we’re here to help those survivors of domestic violence. But also with my role, I want it to open up more to the community as a whole and really create a safe place where they can come and speak their mind.”

While Puente Comunitario meetings are typically conducted in Spanish, they are open to all members of the community, with translation between Spanish and English as needed.

“One thing I love about Park City is that everybody’s so willing to help each other,” said Heredia. “That sense of community is so crucial, especially with being somebody who my family means the world to me, and my biggest treasure in life is having that family connection … but also being able to create that sense of family within a community is so magical.” 

Puente Comunitario meetings are currently held once a month, but Heredia hopes to increase the frequency to twice a month or more as demand increases. Through these meetings, Heredia hopes to foster open and honest communication, as well as to amplify the Latino community’s voices as she feels they have historically been underrepresented. Her goal for the group is to provide a strong sense of community and support, reflecting the community-driven nature of Latino culture.

If you or your organization is interested in partnering with Heredia and Puente Comunitario, reach out via email at jenifer@peacehouse.org. To find more information about Puente Comunitario and stay updated on the latest meetings visit peacehouse.org/events.

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The Christian Center of Park City and the Park City/Summit County Arts Council put on the Latino Arts Festival at the Park City Library Saturday evening, June 3, 2017. The festival featured an afternoon full of live music, food, and more, as well as a free screening of the Sundance Film Festival’s film “Cesar’s Last Fast.” A variety of traditional dances were performed near the end of the celebration. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

Link to gallery here: https://parkrecordphoto.smugmug.com/PHOTOS-Latino-Arts-Festival/

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The Paint Mixer donated their gallery space to local Latino families and their children that wished to paint on Saturday, March 25, 2017. Children were given canvases, paints, brushes and instruction in both English and Spanish on how to paint a sea turtle. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

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