RUSD’s first-ever Festival Latino draws out community, celebrates Hispanic culture 

The Rialto Unified School District’s first-ever Festival Latino was a huge hit, bringing together almost 2,000 people from the Rialto education community to experience Latin culture and celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.

The festival was hosted by Alianza Latina, a family group that positively impacts students of RUSD, on September 24 at the Cesar Chavez/Dolores Huerta Center for Education, located at 324 North Palm Ave. in Rialto. Families were able to experience Hispanic culture through activities, a parade of countries, food, informational booths and more. 

Alianza Latina President Ana Gonzalez said the event exceeded the group’s expectations for a first-time celebration. She credited the Alianza Latina Board for bringing together the event in collaboration with the RUSD Board of Education, Superintendent Dr. Cuauhtémoc Avila, and RUSD staff.

“It was beautiful to see all of the community come together and bring out all of the cultures from all of the different countries,” Gonzalez said. “It was a joyous day as we brought families together to embrace Latino culture. It was a great success.”

The biggest attraction of the day was the parade of countries. Schools from across the RUSD represented a country each and festively marched outside around the Cesar Chavez/Dolores Huerta Center for Education. Schools showed off pride and culture in a number of ways. Some wore authentic clothing from that country. Some carried the country’s flags. Some held banners with art or facts about their country. 

RUSD Board of Education President Edgar Montes and Vice President Stephanie Lewis each took the time to enjoy the festivities as they showed support for the event.  

“We are very happy to be here with all families and students from all our schools,” Montes said. “Thank you to every administrator and teacher and all the people who made this event possible. I’m just very happy to be here today. Let’s give a round of applause for Alianza Latina.”

“We are just so grateful for the turnout today,” Lewis said. “We are culturally aware in the Rialto Unified School District and we celebrate everyone and everything but this month is Hispanic Heritage Month and we are enjoying the celebration.”

During the event, students traveled to different booths representing Latin American countries and got their “passports” stamped as they learned about each country. Students who got their passports stamped at every booth earned a prize bag.

Alexa Esparza, a Garcia Elementary School student, helped get the event started with a beautiful performance of “Viva Mexico.” Esparza wore festival attire as she sang and had the crowd join in for the call-and-response portions of the song. 

Rialto Council PTA helped serve food and many of the attendees took the opportunity to get freshly made tacos and other items. Later in the day, students and adults participated in a soccer match.

“My family attended the event today because we are very proud of our culture,” said Bemis Elementary School parent Miguel Martinez as he enjoyed the festival. “We wanted to come and participate and have our daughter understand parts of our culture. The event is really nice. There are so many amazing surprises.”