Fiestas Patria California Re-born.

All Access Entertainment (AAE) announced that its popular street festival celebrating September 16, Mexican Independence Day, will officially be renamed Fiestas Patrias California to better reflect the events rich heritage. According to the 2000 Census, the city of Santa Ana has the highest density of Hispanics of any city in the state of California. Last year, the 16 year-old festival hosted an estimated 250,000 attendees, according to the Santa Ana Police Department, making it the largest Hispanic free street festival of its kind in this state.

According to event organizer Larry Gonzalez, Fiestas of the Americas, was a culturally diverse name for the event but we felt that Fiestas Patrias California more accurately describes the celebration of freedom that this festival represents. Fiestas Patrias is familiar to many people as a celebration of Independence by multiple Latin American countries. Since our festival is so large, we felt that it was deserving of a more descriptive and recognizable name.

Fiestas Patrias California, will be held this year September 11 & 12, in downtown Santa Ana, on 4th Street. As always, the event will play host to a huge carnival, 20 different food booths, commercial booths, arts & crafts vendors and a Main Concert Stage with continuous live entertainment throughout the festival. This year, La Academia, the wildly popular Azteca America reality series, will be making an appearance onstage, Sunday, 9/12.

Part of the proceeds from Fiestas Patrias California will continue to benefit multiple downtown revitalization programs as they always have.