A small square of orange cones became Aaliyah Alonso’s ring, cordoned off in the middle of the crowd at Ron Tonkin Field Sunday. She danced around the small section of turf, striking the mitts of her coach from the Chief Cornerstone Boxing club. The crowd and live music in the background were no distraction.
The boxing display was the 16-year-old’s unique contribution to this year’s Latino Cultural Festival, which brought Oregon’s Latino and Hispanic cultures together in the Hillsboro Hops stadium.
“It’s so nice to get together as a community and show all that Latino culture has to offer to everybody,” Alonso said. “Boxing has always been an important sport for us, and we have so many big influences in boxing in our culture. It’s a sport a lot of Latinos grew up watching.”
Cornerstone was one of dozens of tents set up in the stadium, all representing Hispanic and Latino owned businesses or resources for the community. Clear blue skies greeted the hundreds who attended the festival throughout the day Sunday, put on by Unitus Community Credit Union and the Washington County Chamber of Commerce.
Hillsboro Futsal and Soccer Academy started their tournament games at 8 a.m., playing through the end of the festival at 6 p.m. Much like boxing, the club soccer group wanted to host a tournament at the Latino festival because of the strong ties the sport has to the culture, Yaritza Martinez said.
Martinez, who now works for the soccer academy, used to play in the club as a kid, and was excited to be experiencing the tournaments as an organizer.
“It’s nice to see the community together, and have all the teams out here,” she said. “I’ve been playing the tournaments my whole life, and to see it from a different perspective is amazing. Hillsboro is such a close community, and I wouldn’t want to be a part of any other.”
The festivities kicked off with a small parade and Mayan blessing of the event at noon. Puma Tzoc, who led the parade with his family, identifies with the Kʼicheʼ people, an indigenous community in Guatemala. His blessing over the event is something common in his culture, he said.
“It’s a ceremony that we always do every time we start an activity, or something new or special,” he said. “Latin culture is beautiful, and it’s really important to give this space to the people. But I want to acknowledge and recognize the indigenous people as well.”
Live music, dancing and award ceremonies for the soccer tournament continued on the main stage until the event closed. Several restaurants serving Mexican cuisine – as well as Tajin-covered shaved ice – set up shop up above the stage near the stadium’s concession stand.
Susana Garcia came to the festival to support her 15-year-old son’s friend who was participating in an event. Her family ended up staying for several hours, enjoying the music, food and local stores.
Garcia said her family doesn’t get to travel often, so having the opportunity to explore their culture locally has been really helpful.
“We don’t get to travel too much to Mexico, but this way my kids get to experience a little bit of our Hispanic culture, and see what other people’s traditions are.”
– Austin De Dios; adedios@oregonian.com; @austindedios; 503-319-9744
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