Chautauqua's Festival Del Sol celebrates Latino community with free fiesta jam-packed with family fun

Sep. 14—While by mid-September many Boulderites are mourning the end of summertime as the season comes abruptly to an end, Hispanic Heritage Month is just getting into the swing of things.

From Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated around the United States in conjunction with national independence days in several Latin American countries, including Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile and Belize.

Hispanics and Latinos make up a significant part of the American population. In Boulder County, according to the latest census information, more than 14% of Boulder County's population identifies as Hispanic, the largest race demographic behind white.

In celebration of the Latino community along the Front Range, Colorado Chautauqua is teaming up with KGNU to host the third annual Festival Del Sol on Sunday.

The bilingual and family-friendly festival will take place at Chautauqua Park with a jam-packed schedule of activities and entertainment — including live music, guided bilingual hikes, salsa dance lessons, food trucks, a beer garden pouring Latin beer and cocktails, games, an artisan market and much more.

"We wanted to make sure the community — the whole community — understood that Chautauqua is a welcoming, diverse place that is meant for them," said Liza Purvis, Chautauqua's director of marketing and communications. "Chautauqua is greatly enriched by the contributions from the Latino community, and we wanted to create an event that really encapsulates that and works closely with community partners who would help communicate that welcoming philosophy."

In the spirit of being inclusive, everything at the festival is completely free, said Purvis, including the four live music concerts inside the iconic and historic auditorium.

"This is such a great chance for the whole community to come in and experience the auditorium," Purvis said. "The auditorium is an incredible space in and of itself, and on Sunday, people can experience music in there for free, which is a really unmissable experience."

This year's lineup of musical acts includes Latin American folk outfit Elisa Garcia Trio, Latin indie band Fruta Brutal, reggae rhythm legends Mono Verde and genre-bending bilingual rockers iZCALLi.

For Martín Better Longo, frontman of Denver-based Fruta Brutal, Festival Del Sol is a welcome event to an otherwise monocultural music scene.

"I think it's really important to bring more events like these to the area," Longo said. "I'm thankful for Chautauqua for putting this together because the Boulder music scene isn't very diverse, and I think Festival Del Sol is enriching it a lot, just by including our voices."

Born in Ecuador, Longo immigrated to the U.S. at a young age and found himself searching for a musical identity that tied his Latin roots to his American adolescence. In college, Longo spent time in the vibrant music scene of New Orleans and traveled extensively through South America, where he was exposed to various subversive musical movements, including Brazil's Tropicália and Argentina's signature rock, which went on to inspire Fruta Brutal's bilingual discography. The band's latest EP, "Madre Serpiente," was released over the summer and features "Cultura Vampira," a seductive tune that has been heavily rotated on Colorado Public Radio. Longo said that audiences can look forward to hearing the buzzy song on Sunday, along with some other surprises.

"'Cultura Vampira' is a very dynamic song for us, with a huge mix of different styles — there's some reggaeton, mixed with Salsa, rock and hip-hop," Longo said. "It's our most ambitious song, and I think it depicts the direction that Fruta Brutal is trying to go — having a big synthesis of styles, and not being afraid to take from a variety of sources that inspire us, while also trying to keep the sound cohesive at the same time."

"We're excited to play for the community," Longo said. "We really just like being a part of a festival that promotes Latin American culture, and it's in line with Fruta Brutal's message of celebrating cultural diversity through our bilingual music, and that message is there in all of our songs."

Fruta Brutal will take the stage in the Chautauqua Auditorium at 1:25 p.m. on Sunday.

New to the festival this year is the introduction of guided bilingual hikes throughout the park. The first hike option, led by Latino Outdoors, will take hikers on a 3.4-mile trek to Royal Arch and back. A less ambitious, but no less interesting, hike led by Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) will take guests on a historic and informative journey through the base of the Flatirons.

Another new and exciting addition to this year's festival is Latin dance lessons, led by Salsa and Bachata maven Colby Ariane.

Ariane, who is a professional dancer originally from Louisiana, grew up performing hip-hop, pom, jazz, lyrical, kick line, baton and majorette forms of dancing.

"My family is Latin and African, but I identify as a Black woman," said Ariane. "Growing up, I always saw family dancing, and my mother really tried to get me and my siblings into bachata and salsa, but living in Louisiana, none of our friends were dancing to that style, so we didn't take her up on it. But when I moved to Colorado, I knew that I wanted to reconnect with my Latin roots."

As soon as Ariane got to Colorado, she started going to a Latin dance club in Denver, where she found a home-away-from-home and eventually became a teacher in salsa, bachata, muévelo and cumbia.

Now Ariane wants to share her love of Latin culture and dance with students of all ages, backgrounds and ability levels. She encourages anyone and everyone to attend her dance lessons on Sunday.

"These dances are cultural and familial dances, so when you go to the Dominican Republic, or Cuba, or Columbia, you'll see these dances being done by multiple generations within families, all over the place — in kitchens, out in the street, wherever," Ariane said. "It's a way for people to connect and communicate, and so I hope that I can bring that feeling of connection to all of my students."

Classes will start at 2 p.m. Sunday, beginning with an introductory individual salsa lesson. As dancers get a hang of the steps, they will work their way up to dancing with a partner, and learning how to develop their own style — or "flavor," as Ariane calls it. A similar model will follow for the bachata lessons, which begin with an individual lesson at 3:30 p.m. and will move on to a partner lesson after dancers master the basics.

"At the end of the day, dance brings people together in a way that is truly beautiful," Ariane said. "Whether they understand the basic steps or not, I want people to have fun and know that moving their bodies doesn't have to look perfect. It's more important that they're having a good time, and that they can feel the music and connect to it in an authentic way that allows them to express their truest selves."

To catch the music, dancing, hiking and more, visit Festival Del Sol from noon-5 p.m. Sunday at Chautauqua Park. The event is free, open to the public, and does not require tickets or registration.