Photo: SALVI FEST / Courtesy
By: Priscilla Lara Haro / Special for Real America News Posted 01 Sep 2023, 19:47 pm EDT
The Salvadoran festival SALVI FEST arrives in Los Angeles to be held in Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles this Saturday and Sunday to celebrate the culture of thousands of cuscatlecos residing in Southern California.
The event will feature more than 16 hours of entertainment, including more than 16 musical groups from El Salvador and Latin America, including Los Adolescentes Orquesta, Son Mirón, La Gran Sonora de Colombia, La Nueva Orquesta de Cali, Sonora Explosiva, Alfredo Jimenez and the Republic and many others.
This will be the second consecutive year that this festival that commemorates the beginning of the month of independence of El Salvador is celebrated.
The celebration will have the presence of Elena Villatoro, beloved television host for the Salvadoran community, who will serve as presenter and main entertainer of the event.
According to the president of SALVI FEST, Salvador Pascasio, the festival will also feature folk dances and the participation of personalities from the Salvadoran government and businessmen from the Central American country.
“The political officials of the Government of El Salvador and businessmen come especially to the festival,” said Pascasio. “They come to open new strategic business alliances with the clear objective of generating more investment and export opportunities for the country.”
In addition to music, dancing and all the fun, the president of the festival said that the typical gastronomy of El Salvador could not be missing and confirmed that there will be vendors and food trucks selling the delicious pupusas, yuca nuts, bread with chumpe and the charamuscas and many other traditional dishes.
Unlike last year, Pascasio explained that this year the festival will be developed together with the official authorities of Los Angeles in District 14, represented by Councilor Kevin de León.
He even said that the festival promises to be three times bigger than the previous year. “Salvadoran culture, gastronomy and traditions are very well recognized internationally,” said Pascasio. “That is why the attendance of more than ten thousand people registered per day has been confirmed.”
Although the event invites all nationalities to learn about the traditions and customs of El Salvador, Pascasio said that SALVI FEST was created especially for Salvadoran youth born in the United States since before its existence, there was no festival that would highlight the traditions. from El Salvador in Los Angeles.
“We wanted it to be an event especially for young Salvadorans born here,” explained Pascasio. “We believe that it is important that they maintain the traditions, culture and gastronomy of El Salvador so that they know their roots and learn more about the history of our country.”
The president of the festival added that the project is a group with different young people from the government of El Salvador and from different Salvadoran non-profit organizations such as Tlaxcaltecas USA, Salvadoreños en San Diego, Talento Hispano Arte y Cultura, among others. For this reason, the festival took the name of SALVI FEST, since the term “SALVI” is what young people born in the United States to Salvadoran parents or with Salvadoran origins are called, explained Pascasio.
The president added that on the SALVI FEST Instagram page, they have carried out a campaign highlighting young Salvadoran-Americans who proudly demonstrate their Salvadoran roots and support the event.
“We have different content creators involved in promoting the event in a fun and youthful way, most are Salvadoran-Americans, with Salvadoran parents who came to the United States when they were young. It is an advertising campaign that has grown and that has worked very well for us, ”she said.
Tickets to attend the event for free have been sold out, but there are still VIP tickets available for both dates. Tickets have a twenty dollar fee and can be obtained on the festival website www.SalviFest.com.
The president of SALVI FEST, assured that next year, they plan to continue commemorating Salvadoran traditions with the festival since they intend to expand it to several states in the United States on different dates.
Visit SALVI FEST
Location: Pershing Square (532 South Olive St., Los Angeles, CA 90013)
When: Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 September
Time: From 3 pm
Tickets: $20 at www.SalviFest.com