Fiesta Broadway Returns To DTLA After 5-Year Hiatus

Three decades ago, the Fiesta Broadway festival in downtown L.A. was massive. At one point it stretched for 36 city blocks with multiple stages, and hundreds of thousands of fans craning their necks to see performances from some of Latin music’s biggest stars, including the likes of Selena and Tito Puente.

Started in 1990, the festival continued annually until 2020, when it was canceled due to the pandemic. By then, downtown Los Angeles had changed, as the small businesses and discount retailers that once drew crowds of Latino shoppers to Broadway on weekends began giving way to lofts and upscale establishments.

The festival had grown smaller, as had the crowds. But after a long hiatus, Fiesta Broadway organizers are taking another go at it.

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A new start

They’re going to start small — just four blocks and one main stage, said Abraham Contreras, whose company All Access Talent is working with the festival’s new owners UNO Productions to produce the event.

“After four years, it's not easy, you know,” Contreras said. “Producing Fiesta Broadway depends on sponsors, and the response has been a little bit slow. But we are kind of preparing for 2025, which we expect to be a lot bigger.”

Support from city officials has helped, Contreras said. And the festival’s comeback has drawn some big names, including singer Álex Lora from Mexico’s iconic rock band El Tri, and Mexican singer and actor Pablo Montero.

Storied past

In Fiesta Broadway’s heyday, musical superstars performing also included Celia Cruz and Marc Anthony. The event, which promoters dubbed the nation’s “largest Cinco de Mayo celebration,” became somewhat of a downtown L.A. Latino mini-Coachella, minus the dust, but replete with corporate sponsorship and the occasional melee.

Over time, the footprint grew smaller, in part to accommodate street traffic. Then as downtown L.A. gentrified, construction and other changes followed.

A recent Fiesta Broadway, before the festival went on hiatus at the start of the pandemic.

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Courtesy of Fiesta Broadway

)

“The last few years, there was a lot of construction,” Contreras said.

Then there were the area’s new, affluent residents.

“Some of them, not all of them, they don’t like to have the Latino events,” he said. “But that’s why it is important that the city help us on dealing with all those issues … at the end, it’s a family event.”

As it has in the past, Fiesta Broadway will feature more than music, Contreras said. This year there will be a lucha libre wrestling platform and a children’s play area — and as before, lots of food.

And importantly, he added, admission is free.

How to go

Map of this Sunday's Fiesta Broadway event

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Courtesy Fiesta Broadway

)

Location: Downtown L.A. on Broadway between 1st and 4th streets
When: Sunday, April 28
Hours: First musical act is scheduled for 11 a.m.
Cost: Free to enter, vendors in event
Event FAQs