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Amigo Fest hits Mendota · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Amigo Fest hits Mendota. Written by Matthias Warner This article
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  is being read by an automated voice, brought to you by Everlit.
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  Mother Nature could not dampen the spirit of Mendota Resident Saturday night
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  at the Amigo Fest. After this weekend's storms forced the third annual
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  culture, celebration inside the Mendota Civic Center, hundreds still came out to
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  commemorate all United Todos Unidos. We like to show our Hispanic culture,
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  and this event has helped us exchange community cultures and better understand
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  each other's, Roul Gonzalez said. Not only do we share experiences, we
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  share each other's company. Saturday Night housed some tenets of Mexican culture,
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  including food, dance, and games, as well as some of their American
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  counterparts. Attendees could try their and at Loteria, a traditional Mexican board
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  game, cakewalk or the mechanical bull, the Bull Lopez Obrador. There also
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  were plenty of entertaining activities and games for young kids to help
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  keep the in the spirit of The
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  evening. Local vendors, Grateful Grub, La Esquinita de Oroatsi Cream, Rotary, Salinas
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  Mexican food, Tacos Cuitos and Tacos Guzmán supplied the authentic food options
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  for attendees. The third annual event brought to residence by Rey Imagin
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  Mendota and the Hispanic Partnership Council aimed to help bring the community
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  together and celebrate unique traditions and histories. Ballet
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  Folklorico De Colores, took the stage with a series of dance numbers
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  that recognized and highlighted the theme of the night, and people of
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  differing backgrounds all sat and connected around the performance. Gonzalez, a performer
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  in Ballet Folklorico de Colores said that Saturday night was more focused
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  on The dynamic nature of Mexican culture than other performances. Some other
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  times we perform it's about different things, but this was more culturally
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  focused on what what the experience of Mexicans and those in other
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  Hispanic communities, Gonzalez said. The opening performance, reflected what event organizers
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  said as one of the primary goals of Amigo Fest. Amigo Fest
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  is about bringing our community together and celebrating the cultures, traditions, and
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  people who make Mendota home, they said. Following the dance performance, bands
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  took center stage to entertain the growing crowd at the Civic Center.
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  Big Uproar and Fifth Elements played live music to exhibit through music
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  the message of the evening, playing music across various genres, decades and
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  cultures. We shouldn't forget our heritage, and one way we can do
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  that is to practice our culture, Gonzalez said. If we can show
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  our traditions to each other, the we can understand each other better
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  as well. AmigoFest also raised funds through raffles, tickets, and available concessions
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  to help continue the effort to fund the Pavilion on Main Project.
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  Wi with designs for the project being considered, organizers said that raising
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  the capital and funding grant application opportunities is a key aspect to
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  Reimagined Mendota's mission to bring a community pavilion space to downtown Mendota.