Yellow Pages
BURLINGTON — Fiesta Unidos-goers can take a whack at a piñata every hour on the hour, ride a pony or head to the beer garden. But the Burlington Chamber of Commerce’s first Hispanic festival is about more than partying.
“There is a very ambitious thing to this festival,” said event co-chair Navor Tercero, “… It is about getting more Hispanic members of the chamber.”
To do that, event organizers incorporated Hispanic traditions — from Quinceañera dresses to music to food — as well as booths for the chamber, local businesses and sponsors. They want to show attendees that Hispanic-owned business have a place in the Chamber of Commerce and that the chamber works for all local residents — no matter their heritage or first language.
Among the traditional events is the reina, or queen, contest. About 10 girls will vie for the title of reina in two categories. The winners will be the ones who raise the most money in two different age brackets. Half the money raised will go toward a scholarship, and the rest will be used to put on the festival next year.
Marta Ortiz, who owns Variadades Marta in Burlington, is organizing the contest and a fashion show to follow it. During both events Ortiz’s Quinceañera dresses, the often boldly colored and frilly dresses girls wear on their 15th birthday, will be on display.
Ortiz is just the kind of member the chamber hopes to attract.
“I have not really been a member of any kind of club or anything. I am just kind of new at this,” said Ortiz, who has yet to join. “I have not really gone to any of their meetings.”
Lisa Swanberg, the chamber’s office manager, said chamber membership would offer Ortiz a way to grow her business through referrals, networking and new customer bases — such as those looking for a dress for prom or a company party.
Swanberg said the chamber, which has 370 members, does not track ethnicity. But she guesses only a handful of Hispanic-owned businesses have joined. Tercero, who owns the Nationwide Insurance agency in Burlington, is one of them.
Four or five years ago Tercero was asked to speak to a group about increasing Hispanic involvement in chambers. So he went first to the Hispanic community to see what they thought.
“The question was why don’t Latino business owners get more involved?” he said, and “The answer we got back was ‘a chamber of commerce is like a country club, a social club ... for people who are already successful to rub elbows.’”
“Why would I want to go spend an hour and a half at lunch when I could be working on my business?” he was asked.
Fiesta Unidos is about correcting that misconception, said Tercero. He wants the Hispanic community to see that the Chamber of Commerce is about supporting one’s community in order to grow one’s business.
“The Hispanic community has as much to gain from that kind of promotion as anyone else does,” he said.
Tercero said past efforts to draw in or to celebrate the Hispanic community have not always been successful. For instance, when Tercero met with representatives from Wal-Mart about supporting the event and recognizing the Spanish-speaking community, the reps pointed to a recent Cinco de Mayo celebration sponsored by Wal-Mart.
“What is sort of funny about that, though, is that the Spanish-speaking community does not celebrate Cinco de Mayo,” he said. “… It would be the difference between us celebrating the Fourth of July and the War of 1812.”
“Cinco de Mayo does mark the victory of a battle in Mexican history,” he said, “but it is not like their Fourth of July, which is the 16th of September.”
Fiesta Unidos is not perfectly synchronized either, but Tercero said the Aug. 16 festival is a lot closer. And hopefully, he said, the festival will be back next year on a date even closer to Mexico’s independence celebration.
• Elliott Wilson can be reached at 360-416-2147 or at .
At a glance
What: Fiesta Unidos
When: 12 to 9 p.m., Saturday
Where: 600 block of Fairhaven Avenue, Burlington
Features: Street fair, food, Mariachi band, DJ, face painting, talent show, reina competition, beer garden, fashion show and pony rides, bouncy house and other kids’ activities
Cost: Kids’ activities are free the first time through
For more information: Visit http://www.burlington-chamber.com or call 360-757-0994
Schedule of events
All day: Piñatas every hour on the hour
Noon: Opening Ceremonies
1 p.m.: Mariachi band
2 p.m.: Talent show
3 p.m.: Mariachi band
4 p.m.: DJ and music
5 p.m.: Reina competition
6 p.m.: Fashion Show
7-9 p.m.: Music
