San Fernando : Music, Weather, Food Hot, Hot, Hot at Fiesta

If you make the music, they will come.

That could have been the motto of the 69th annual San Fernando Fiesta, held Saturday and Sunday in Recreation Park.

Braving punishing heat, families poured into the park to enjoy the carnival rides and games, and sample Mexican treats such as tortas de carne asada (beef sandwiches) and horchata (a drink flavored with vanilla and cinnamon).

But the main attraction, most people said Sunday, was the impressive lineup of bands that fiesta sponsors had put together.

The biggest acts played music known as banda quebradita, an upbeat, energetic dance music that is highly popular in the Latino community.

Some of the bands--which included Banda Los Lago, Banda R15 and Banda Novillera--were flown in from their homes in northern Mexico.

“I came because I wanted to see Banda R15,” said Carmen Carrasco as she watched the band’s members, dressed in glitzy green-leather outfits that were equal parts cowboy and Elvis in Las Vegas.

About 400 people pressed against the chain-link fence that separated them from the bandstand, leaving little room to dance.

But in a restricted-access area near the stage, a lanky youth and his lissome dance partner took full advantage of the music, making a patch of grass their personal dance floor.

Hector Gonzalez, the promotions director of radio station KKHJ and its sister station, KBUE, said this year’s musical lineup was the best ever for the event.

The two radio stations were among the sponsors of the event. The main sponsor was the San Fernando Civic Assn.

Fiesta organizers predicted Sunday afternoon that attendance would equal or top the usual figure of 35,000 over two days.

On Saturday, which usually has the smaller attendance of the two days, 15,000 people came, according to organizers--more than the usual 10,000 to 12,000.