As immigration enforcement has been on the rise, concerns over safety has led to the cancellation of an annual festival that celebrates Spokane's Latino community.
“We just don't feel like it's safe right now to hold a Latino festival because we are being targeted right now,” said Fernanda Mazcot, executive director of Nuestras Raices Community Center.
Tacos y Tequila Festival, an annual two-day celebration of Latino culture hosted by Nuestras Raíces Community Center – a nonprofit serving the Latino community in Eastern Washington – has been scratched from the books. Originally The festival was scheduled Aug. 23 and 24.
Mazcot said the decision was in response to safety concerns amid increased immigration crackdowns and a rise in hateful rhetoric directed at the Latino community under the Trump administration.
Launched five years ago, the festival was created to celebrate Latino culture with food, music and performances from bands across Washington and has included bands from as far as Texas, Macot said. It typically draws about 7,000 attendees each day and raises nearly $70,000 annually to support the organization’s programs.
“It’s an open festival,” Mazcot said. “It’s not ticketed so all families can come and enjoy.”
This year, Nuestras Raíces had set a fundraising goal of $80,000 to support its behavioral health programs and food bank, which Mazcot said lost $30,000 in funding during the Trump Administration.
The organization explored alternative options to make this year’s festival safer, including relocating to the Spokane Pavilion and implementing ticketing to help with security. However, with limited resources and ongoing uncertainty among staff, vendors, and performers, they ultimately decided to postpone the event.
“It's really sad, because this event was meant to be a joyous event for families and showcase Spokane,” Mazcot said.
She emphasized that although the festival’s cancellation impacts the nonprofit and its funding, it also has a ripple effect on small businesses and the local economy.
“Small businesses really look forward to this festival because they do make pretty good profit,” Mazcot said. “And as winter comes they don't do a lot of events; this is one of their main events where they do make some profit.”
In a statement from Isabel Varela, founder of Las Delicias de Isa, a small Spokane business that sells Mexican pastries, echoed those concerns.
“We understand the decision was made due to safety concerns tied to anti-immigrant threats, and we respect the need to protect our community first,” Verala said in her statement.
“However, the economic and emotional consequences of this cancellation are significant. It feels like a piece of our roots, our identity, and the space we’ve worked so hard to build in this city is being taken from us,” the statement continues.
Other Latino events canceled
Latinos en Spokane also recently announced the cancellation of its upcoming events, with the exception of El Mercadito, a Latino farmers market they host on the last Saturday of each month at Liberty Lake.
“We’re still able to distribute thousands of pounds of food and also provide space for vendors,” said Jennyfer Mesa, executive director of the nonprofit organization. “We have a lot of volunteers that are present with us, so we can guarantee safety on a smaller scale.”
Mesa said the canceled events include those held during Hispanic Heritage Month, such as Independence Day celebrations for countries like Mexico, Venezuela and those in Central America.
She cited targeted encounters with Immigration and Custom Enforcement, forcing them to close their doors and closely monitor who comes in and out of their office spaces.
“They have tried to come in to talk to us, to talk to other people, and we want to create as much safety as possible,” Mesa said.
In light of Nuestras Raices’ decision to cancel its major event, Mesa said she feels reassured that other groups are taking similar precautions.
“We are not in a time of celebration. We can't celebrate when we know that our kids are being left without parents, that we are living in absolute fear every single day, and we continue to be targeted,” Mesa said.
“This is a time for action. This is a time for walkouts. This is a time for strikes. This is a time for us to hold elected officials accountable to see how they're going to come up with solutions to create safety, because there is no way for us to be a community when we are targeted for being undocumented, but we're also targeted for doing things the legal way,” Mesa continued.
Mazcot said Nuestras Raíces is already working on next year’s event, with a focus on building stronger protections and ensuring that the festival remains a safe, inclusive space for everybody.
“I want Spokane to know and City Council members to really understand that this is not just a festival of our nonprofit, it is a festival that really brings color and culture and visitors to Spokane,” Mazcot said.