50,000 Attend Festival for Gang Prevention : Police: Jeopardy fiesta brings community groups together to help raise an expected $90,000 for LAPD program.

As the sounds of ranchero music filled the air, more than 50,000 people crowded into Hansen Dam Sports Center on Sunday to attend a fund-raising festival for Jeopardy, the Los Angeles Police Department’s gang-prevention program.

The third annual event was expected to raise $90,000 for the 8-year-old program. On hand for the daylong fiesta were Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon and a slew of Latin entertainers, including the band Industria del Amor and singer Ricardo Adjona.

“This is Jeopardy’s main fund-raising event. It’s a cooperative effort that brings different community groups together,” said Capt. Gus Drulias of LAPD’s Foothill Division.

Booths offered Mexican food and literature from Latino community service groups including the Northeast Valley Health Corp., whose representatives passed out condoms and pamphlets about HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

While some youngsters came to hear favorite bands play, other youths and their families showed up to learn about Jeopardy. Eleven-year-old Jose Lopez said he wants to learn more about the program and would be interested in joining.

Created eight years ago, Jeopardy is a gang prevention and intervention program that targets at-risk youths, their parents and communities. Jeopardy’s youngsters take lessons in boxing, ice hockey, ice skating, modern dance or drama as an alternative to joining gangs.

“We check with the schools to see if the kids have been slacking off,” said Jeopardy volunteer Elaine Hernandez, explaining how the program works with all facets of the community--including families, schools, police and other local organizations--to keep youngsters out of trouble.

Serving cold drinks at the fair, 16-year-old Cruz Perez, a four-year participant in Jeopardy’s ice hockey program, said he thinks the anti-gang project is effective. “It keeps me off the streets,” Cruz said.

To keep the festivities under control, no alcohol was served and more than 50 police officers, including an anti-gang unit, patrolled the grounds on foot, bicycle and horseback. The only problem officers said they ran into was a lost child.

“This is for family,” said Yolanda Chavez, Cruz’s mother and a longtime Jeopardy volunteer. “This is a chance to get the community together.”

Times staff writer Phil Sneiderman contributed to this story.