LAKEPORT>>> Abuelita’s Kitchen Street Fair debuted at the Historic Courthouse Museum on Saturday. The event was a celebration of the traveling exhibit Abuelita’s Kitchen – Mexican Food Stories. The event was co-hosted between the Museums of Lake County and the Latinos United of Lake County. The street fair was held outside the museum in the courtyard and ran in the early morning afternoon hours. In that area there were tents set up for different activities, partners, and even a live band. It was meant by the organizers as a warm environment for families to have fun and celebrate, enjoy, or learn about Hispanic culture.
The street fair had plenty to offer. Aside from facepainting by Chayo Mosqueda, there was the Lake County Library’s Bookmobile for bilingual stories; crafts like pinatas, tacos, a Mexican food themed word search; an actual pinata drop at 1 p.m.; a live band named Clave Trebol playing; snow cones; and tents for other local programs, like the E Center for Child Development, Latinos United, and the Adult Literary Coalition.
There would have been a food vendor but according to organizers, he cancelled hours before the street fair. Luckily, as Anthony Guardino, Museum Assistant Curator, expressed, “La Fiesta (Market) was kind enough to provide us with $900 dollars’ worth of food so that we could now give out to the community for free.”
The origins of the street fair was the traveling exhibit Abuelita’s Kitchen – Mexican Food Stories. Caroyln Birilli, Curator of Museums of Lake County, explained how the street fair is in conjunction with the exhibit. “We wanted to have an event that tied in to our exhibit and brought people from our community to both visit the museum and just have a good time.”
Part of the appeal of both the exhibit and the street fair is cultural connection. A way for the local Hispanic community of Lake County to enjoy their heritage and resonate with others. The exhibit itself was about eight different grandmothers from different parts of Mexico, the food they brought with them, and their immigration to the LA Basin.
“Even though these are stories of grandmothers not necessarily from our area, it’s a universal story.” Birilli said. “It’s a story everyone can kind of resonate with.”
Miguel Cruz, of the Santa Rosa band Clave Trebol, beamed over the opportunity and “connecting with people, getting them out of their shell, breaking that comfort zone.”
“It’s nice the museum is able to put something on like this and put emphasis on the Latino Community and not letting us just be background characters in our own town anymore since we do take up a majority of Lake County.” Anahy Olmedo, representative of Latinos United, expressed. “It’s also a great opportunity to talk to people you may not have talked to before and to get the word out about different organizations.”
The Historic Courthouse Museum has been hosting the Abuelita’s Kitchen – Mexican Food Stories since Sunday, June 1. The exhibit will continue to be hosted by Lake County Museums until July 31; it will then be moved to the Sacramento Children’s Museum.
