100,000 Celebrate Independence at Santa Ana Fiesta
About 100,000 people took to the streets of downtown Santa Ana in a vibrant--and hot--celebration of cultural heritage at a three-day Fiestas Patrias 2000.
The annual fair marks the independence of Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua in 1810.
The mercury topped the high 90s, but that didn’t stop the party.
“Everyone is very happy today,” said Beatriz Hernandez, 18, of Tustin who visited the festival with her mother and sister. “It’s the same feeling you get when it’s the Fourth of July.”
Music blared for blocks as bands played traditional tunes from both ends of the street fair. The smell of beef-filled tortillas and bacon-wrapped hot dogs wafted through the streets, which were loaded with food and advertising booths.
Festival-goers waited in long lines at the petting zoo. A parade of floats, dancers and local entertainers decked out in colorful costumes marched down Main Street.
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