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Worcester’s annual Latin American Festival, a summer tradition for more than three decades, has been canceled this year.
The August event on the Worcester Common typically attracts thousands of people for a celebration of Latin cuisine, music and dancing.
In a statement, the local nonprofit CENTRO — which hosts the festival — said it decided to call off this year’s gathering “after careful consideration of factors beyond our control.”
“Canceling was not an easy decision, but it is the responsible course of action this year,” the nonprofit’s interim CEO Tina Velazquez wrote.
Velazquez elaborated on the decision during an appearance Monday morning on the Worcester radio station WMEG. She said the festival has become increasingly expensive to organize due to inflation combined with decreased funds from sponsors, and CENTRO has struggled to find volunteers to help with this year’s event. She added that some people have said they don’t plan to attend the festival due to concerns immigration authorities might interrupt it.
“We understand their suffering. We understand what they are going through,” Velazquez said in Spanish on WMEG. “We have families who constantly call, needing food, and don’t dare approach the food bank out of fear. We also have families that aren’t going to work, families that sometimes don’t send children to school or don’t take them to the doctor because of that fear that we have.”
In response to the cancellation announcement on Friday, CENTRO board member Randy Feldman said he was aware of concerns that federal immigration authorities might interrupt the event and detain some attendees.
“It’s a sad state of affairs when a group of people say, ‘We’re so afraid, you’ve so made our people so afraid to live a public life. You’ve so diminished our public expression of the power and joy that we take in each other and in our culture that we’re now afraid to rejoice,’” Feldman said.
Fears of immigration enforcement in Worcester have surged since federal agents detained a woman during a chaotic operation in May on Eureka Street. Feldman, a local immigration attorney, noted that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has continued to arrest people around the city in recent months.
“We just had somebody that I appeared [in court] for yesterday that we’re trying to get out on bond who has been here four years, overstayed their visitor’s visa, no criminal record,” he said. “There’s been much more than just Eureka Street.”
This year’s Latin American Festival would have been the 33rd edition of the event. Organizing the celebration involves booking musical guests and food vendors, securing sponsors and paying for police details.
Roberto Diaz is currently executive director of the nonprofit Worcester Interfaith, but used to work for CENTRO and said he understands the organization’s decision to cancel the outdoor festival. He noted that even if the event did happen, many people would have decided not to attend due to their fear of immigration authorities.
Still, he added the festival is one of the city’s biggest community events. He would have preferred if CENTRO held at least a smaller version of the celebration at an indoor location where people might feel safer.
“I think there’s a level of creativity that I would have loved to maybe have seen. But people got to do what’s best for them and their organization,” he said.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
