Marketing Outdraws Mariachis at L.A. Fiesta

Candelaria Buquiz and her two small children had their hands full Sunday at the Fiesta Broadway street festival in downtown Los Angeles.

Among the three of them, they had almost a dozen plastic bags filled with magnets, pens, handbills, visors, T-shirts and food samples -- all of it free. On top of that, her daughter was carrying a boogie board, and her son the board game Life -- also giveaways.

“All the lines are good right now,” said Buquiz, a 34-year-old immigrant from El Salvador, referring to the quality of the products.

Others had bags filled with such goodies as iced tea, salsa, mayonnaise, perfume, cereal, salad dressing, pasta, mesh baseball caps, paper fans, water bottles, bubble gum, juices, soap, cooking oil, purified water, detergent and coupons galore.

Buquiz and her children were among the thousands who attended the 15th Fiesta Broadway. Many spent much of the day standing in long lines in 80-degree weather to get something free.

“One hour for this?” yelled a woman after she won a magnet at a booth where prizes were awarded on the basis of a spinning wheel. The top prize was a pair of Harley-Davidson boots.

Organizers bill Fiesta Broadway as the largest Cinco de Mayo event in the world. All Access Entertainment, the marketing company that put the festival together, estimated that 500,000 people would attend throughout the day.

Although there were four stages with musical performances, many people said the real draw was the rows of stalls that stretched 11 blocks along Broadway.

Deanna Martinez, 21, posing for pictures while selling phone cards, said that Fiesta Broadway seemed more commercial than cultural. The number of people crowding the street and the size and reputation of the companies distributing merchandise were an indication of the size and buying power of the Latino market, she said.

“It’s all about direct response, reaching them,” said the part-time marketing student, whose family has a history of working in Latino marketing. “They’re spending money, and we all want them to spend money with us.”

But that doesn’t mean culture is entirely missing from Fiesta Broadway, Martinez and others noted. Crowds gathered around the stages to watch regional Mexican dance troupes, Latin pop acts and high school mariachi bands.

At a stand near 6th Street, George Blancarte sold T-shirts emblazoned with Mexican icons. “Whenever we can go to a street fair and express the culture without being generic, I think that’s a good thing,” he said.