The La Casa Latina cultural resource center at Portland State hosted its annual Mariachi in the Park event on Wednesday, May 10. The event has been a tradition for years during spring term at PSU, hosted in time for sunny skies and beautiful weather, but it took a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mariachi in the Park made its return from the COVID-19 era last year during the spring 2022 term, though it is much smaller than it was in pre-pandemic times. This year La Casa’s event was significantly larger, with a huge turnout from students and extensive participation from other members of the Latino Student Leadership Council (LSLC). La Casa and the LSLC—consisting of Mecha, Las Mujeres, Dream PSU, Omega Delta Phi, Kappa Delta Chi and SHPE PSU—held a pop-up resource fair where they all tabled alongside some other student groups and campus resources. Each group gave out candy and stickers, with Omega Delta Phi selling Conchas to fundraise for upcoming LSLC-hosted events. Free paletas from Ice Queen were also given out to the hundreds of students in attendance. All of this was accompanied by an hour-long performance by Woodburn High School’s Mariachi Band, which attracted not only students but even people from the greater Portland community, who were drawn in by the music while strolling through the downtown park blocks.
