Jalapeno Will Add Tex-Mex Flavor to Festival

Dr. Loco’s Rockin’ Jalapeno Band will spice up the menu of music, dance and theater to be dished out at the first Santa Ana Latin American Festival in September.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month and several Latin American countries’ independence, the festival will include performances Sept. 5 by 16 bands and dance troupes from Guatemala, Peru, Nicaragua, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Honduras and Mexico.

Dr. Loco’s Bay Area-based Tex-Mex band and others will lend contemporary flavor to the free presentation, to take place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Rancho Santiago College, parking lot six, in conjunction with a “street fair” offering ethnic food and rides.

Festivities will begin Sept. 3 at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art with opening remarks by officials of several Latin American countries. Sept. 14-19, six Southern California Latino theatrical groups will perform plays in English and Spanish at the Yost Theater for Identidad (Identity) Theater Festival. Tickets are $3 to $5.

Festival West, a private arts and entertainment corporation, is organizing the event, which it hopes will be an annual celebration. Rancho Santiago College is at 1530 W. 17th St., Santa Ana; Bowers Museum is at 2002 N. Main St., and the Yost Theater is at 307 N. Spurgeon St. Information: (714) 558-6869.