Thread: HISPANIC FESTIVAL on OUR INDEPENDENCE DAY??

This article appeared in the Winston-Salem Journal on July 4, 2005--
www.journalnow.com

Celebrating the Summertime: Annual Hispanic festival draws thousands to listen to music, cheer bull riders
By Michael Hewlett
JOURNAL REPORTER
Monday, July 4, 2005



Festival-goers pack the field behind King Plaza to watch musicians perform. (Journal Photo By Megan Morr)
Ray Flanner at first couldn't find the Festival de Verano yesterday.

He saw the sea of cars when he pulled into the King Plaza Shopping Center. But it wasn't easy to see where the Hispanic festival was. Flanner took the easy road. He just followed the people.

He said he was interested in the festival, the fourth annual event, because he uses Spanish at his job with Wachovia Corp. He works in the call center, answering people's questions about the company's cash-management program.

Flanner said he had lived in Spain when he was a child.

The calls come from around the world, but he said he has had to use his Spanish more in the past two years. Flanner said he was enjoying the festival.

"I want to get more involved in the community," he said.

Many people joined Flanner yesterday for the festival. It was so crowded by midday that people parked along Reynolds Park Road and walked to the festival, which took place behind the shopping center.

Que Pasa Media Network produces the Festival De Verano. Last year's festival drew 12,000 mostly Hispanic residents of Forsyth County and beyond. This year, the festival attracted more than twice the number of business and corporate sponsorships that it had last year. By late in the day, thousands were again in attendance.

People pushed young children in baby strollers, fanning them from the heat. Others carried their children in their arms.

A major event during the festival was the jaripeo, or rodeo. People crowded around to see young men ride bulls, cheering as they watched to see who would stay on the longest.

Men walked through the crowd, pushing carts with the words "La Princesa" on the side and ringing bells to let people know of their arrival. Customers came, and the men pulled out frozen fruit bars.

Leonel Ruiz had one complaint, though.

"It's hot," he said, standing not far from where the bulls are kept. He wore a hat to keep the heat from bearing down on his head.

Michelle Watts brought her 21/2-year-old son, Isaac. Her son is Mexican-American and is beginning to speak both Spanish and English well, Watts said.

She had spent most of the time there eating and seeing her son ride the ponies. She found out about the festival because the company she works for printed shirts for Que Pasa.

"I'm enjoying it," Watts said. "It's great for my son."

• Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com

I am going to write the person who wrote this article and ask which businesses support this Hispanic Festival and then I think we should boycott those companies. I bet businesses wouldn't sponsor a festival for ALIPAC!

Below is the reply from the writer of the article concerning my question about the sponsors of this festival. I am going to boycott!

This article should answer your questions.

By Jeanne Sturiale JOURNAL REPORTER

SPONSORSHIP GROWS AT HISPANIC FESTIVAL


Organizers of the annual Festival de Verano in Winston-Salem were feeling upbeat this week, saying that the number of festival sponsorships has more than doubled over last year's.

The Hispanic festival, to be held Sunday at King Plaza Shopping Center, is produced by Que Pasa Media Network. It will feature booths and displays by about 50 sponsors, well over last year's 19 sponsors, said Jane Martin, a spokeswoman for Que Pasa.

"I think the market this year, in this area, now truly understands the commercial value of this audience," Martin said.

Signing on this year are previous sponsors, such as Time Warner Cable and Bank of America, and new ones such as the U.S. Army/N.C. National Guard and Coca-Cola Bottling Consolidated. Sponsorships have grown steadily since 2002, the first year of the festival, Martin said. Organizers estimated that last year's festival drew 12,000 mostly Hispanic residents in Forsyth County and beyond. Martin said that Que Pasa's research, based on U.S. Census material and other sources, estimates that there are more than 40,000 Hispanics in Forsyth County, with a buying power of $539 million. Jose Isasi, the owner of Que Pasa, attributed increased sponsor interest to a shift in the festival's target audience, from single Hispanic males to Hispanic families.

Most of this year's entertainment, such as a rodeo and children's area, will be focused on the family, Isasi said.

"Folks are realizing that in Hispanic marketing, the Hispanic family is the more stable sector," Isasi said. "The housing market is starting to wake up to Hispanics. We have more real-estate, mortgage companies. All of that is the family getting more established."

Sgt.1st Class Marvin Bennett, who handles advertising and marketing for the N.C. National Guard, said that the growing Hispanic population is one reason he decided to rent a display booth at the festival.< "We're looking to see if there are qualified, legal immigrants or American citizens," Bennett said. He'll have brochures in Spanish on hand, he said, for potential recruits' parents. "The Guard is really a family thing," he said.

Isasi said that his company has made a "significant investment" in the festival - which will run from noon until 8 p.m., with free admission - although he declined to disclose the cost. Martin said that the festival hasn't turned a profit.

"We're lucky if we break even," she said. "But it's good for relationships, good for the community."

Jeanne Sturiale can be reached at 727-7356 or at jsturiale@wsjournal.com