On a bright, cloudless June day, a masked luchador with a clown nose and a Mario hat runs around an open-air ring taunting his opponents. After a growling introduction from an announcer in Spanish, the clown joins in a two-on-two melee. He and his blue-masked partner bounce their opponents off the ropes, engage in a series of acrobatic flips and kicks that sometimes include the referee, until they finally take down their opponents with theatrical slaps and a shocking piledrive.
The clown and his partner emerge victorious, drinking in the cheers and jeers of the nearby crowd. It’s not a scene you might expect at your typical music festival — but this was not your typical music festival. Festival La Onda, run by the same company as BottleRock Napa Valley, is dedicated to Latin Music.
It celebrates its inaugural run this June 1 and 2. The celebration of Mexican and Latin American culture is the first of its kind in Northern California, and after a day full of delightful musical offerings and steeped in Latin pride, it had patrons begging for the festival to return. “It’s like my roots,” said Eduardo Matus, a Mexico City native who has been in the US for twelve years.
“It’s always nice to enjoy your culture even when you’re not at home...
It’s special for me.” All day, crowds hustled past giant Loteria cards and gleaming low-riders to enjoy the festival’s offerings. While the crowd of 30,000 was largely youthful, dozens of families – from abuelitas to infa.
