Pachanga Latino Music Festival @ Fiesta Gardens [Saturday]

This Saturday, the Pachanga Latino Music Festival takes over Fiesta Gardens and closes out Austin Latino Music Month with a full day of music and arts inspired by the Latin culture. Festival co-founders Rich Garza and Alex Vallejo have assembled quite a fine line-up for the second year of this fest, including Mexican Institute Of Sound, (read out interview with Camilo Lara here), Michael Salgado, Brownout!, Mariachi Las Alteñas, Maneja Beto, David Garza, Ocote Soul Sounds, among many others. We touched base with Rich Garza last week and learned that he is especially looking forward to the sets by M.I.S., Salgado, and Mariachi Las Alteñas (a thirteen piece all female mariachi band). Garza is pleased with the new venue for the festival as well -- “Fiesta Gardens is worthy of its own signature festival. It's in the middle of the East Austin, the heart and soul of the Latino community in Austin and it's on the water.”

A kid-friendly area entitled Niños Rock Pachanga has been added to the festivities this year, complete with a touch of education -- a guitar demo by Jake Owen (Charanga Cakewalk), a drum demo by Alex Vallejo (Vallejo), a keyboard demo by Bobby Garza (Maneja Beto), and a songwriting demo by David Garza should all provide ample learning opportunities for adults and children alike. Likewise, folk arts and crafts, Mexican masks, clay tamales, and the ever-popular Annie Ray photo-booth will surely keep all age groups occupied. Per Rich Garza , “We want families to be able to take part in the music festival experience in way that caters to them -- covered areas, hands on activities, lessons, workshops, and free water.” All in all, it should be a fabulous day out for the whole family.

[Pachanga Latino Music Festival Official]
[Pachanga Latino Music Festival MySpace]