September 7, 2023
Wallace Baine, Lookout Santa Cruz
While you’re visiting this year’s Santa Cruz County Fair at the fairgrounds next weekend, you might want to make it a double shot of cultural fun in Watsonville.
Fridays at the Watsonville Plaza are already a fun stop thanks to the weekly farmers market. But next Friday, Sept. 15, “Fiesta Mexicana” — brought to you by the Watsonville Film Festival — comes to the plaza with live music and folklorico performances on stage by Son Jarocho Santa Cruz, Esperanza Del Valle and Mariachi Juvenil Corazon Jalisciense, followed by a screening of the classic 1950 Mexican comedy “El Rey del Barrio” with the beloved comedian Tin Tan, just right across the street at the Cabrillo Watsonville Center. It’s all free.
Then, on Saturday evening, Sept. 16, the Mello Center in downtown Watsonville will be the site for a “Celebration of Music & Culture.” Yes, they could have come up with a catchier name, but it’s still a big show of music and folklorico dance including such beloved community performers as Esperanza Del Valle and the White Hawk Indian Council for Children, among several others. It’s all in support of the Watsonville Center of the Arts and its efforts to make these kinds of culturally significant art forms a part of locals’ daily lives.
But that’s not all. On Sunday, Sept. 17, back at the plaza, the Mexican Independence Day Festival will feature music, food, dance and art, all from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., again free and family-friendly.
It’s a wow weekend for Watsonville.