This year, Los Banos celebrates its cultural roots with the inaugural Mariachi Festival. Slated to occur at the very beginning of Hispanic Heritage month, the event kicks off downtown on Oct. 6 at 3 p.m., and the Los Banos Chamber of Commerce as well as the Los Banos Downtown Association invite any and all to a fun evening of food, refreshments and music.
The San Joaquin Valley is rife with Hispanic culture, and helping run the event is Joe Gutierrez, a lifelong community member and former teacher who has been helping run musical events of all kinds in Los Banos for the past few decades.
Though he himself is no musician, Gutierrez is no stranger to the vibrance of the Valley’s music due to his 20-year involvement with the Mariachi events.
“I want to give back to the community one way or another,” said Gutierrez, “I love the music and I love showing off our Mexican heritage.” This year’s Mariachi Festival is just the latest event in a long career of displaying this cultura mexicana and promises an exciting lineup of some of the Valley’s best and most authentic Mariachi acts.
The festival will feature Mariachi groups from up and down the state in order to bring some of California’s most prominent musicians together for the cultural affair. Mariachi Nuevo Santa Maria and Mariachi Mexico de Gilroy are making the hour-long trek from their hometowns of Merced and Gilroy (respectively) to bring their music to the heart of the Central Valley.
Mariachi Original Los Carreteros and Mariachi de Stan State will also be joining the festivities from the Turlock area. Whether or not guests are familiar with the groups, this first Mariachi Festival is sure to show all of its attendees an act and an evening they have never seen before.
The event will be free and open to the community, but guests are also welcome to call (209) 826-4963 or (209) 769-7953 to reserve an eight-seat table for $500. The restaurants of downtown Los Banos will be open to serve any and all hungry patrons, and guests who will not be reserving a table are encouraged to bring seats to enjoy the music from wherever they feel comfortable.
The organizers of this first Mariachi festival are giving their all to honoring the culture and stories that constitute the Central Valley, and this Oct. 6 marks the start of yet another Valley tradition.
