Seattle's Premier Cumbia Festival Is Bidi Bidi Bom Back
The Burien festival fundraiser named after Selena's hit song returns April 13, 14, and 20.
by Agueda Pacheco Flores
Bidi Bidi Bom Bash is back again to bring its three-day event full of community vendors, markets, and best of all, cumbia rhythms to the South End.
Festivities will begin next month on April 13 and will kick off with a market at Lake Burien Presbyterian Church. Attendees will see an assortment of local vendors selling anything from art and jewelry to food. A "Bidi Bidi Bom Brunch" at La Esquina will follow the next day, April 14, and will feature drag performances. The festival will end on April 20 with its official cumbia dance event called "Aguacero," a nod to Seattle's rainy weather, at Club Sur in SoDo. Both Bidi Bidi Bom Brunch and Aguacero require tickets, which range from $10 to $80. All but Aguacero will be all-ages events.
"It's about 50 vendors total, a mix of services and goods," says Roxana Pardo Garcia who has organized the event since its inception. "We'll have two live painters. … Carlos Martinez and Jessica Marquez, and then Aileen Jimenez is going to be doing an art workshop during the market," she added.
The Selena-inspired festival, whose name is a nod to Selena Quintanilla's 1994 song "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom," first started in 2017, with smaller karaoke events in the Burien area. Since then, the festival has gone through different phases, seeing a virtual event during the lockdown and also seeing different fiscal sponsors, but this year is different in other ways, too. Pardo Garcia's production company, Lo Roxay Productions, holds the creative residency. Organizers and talent for the event are all local.
"It's completely a Pacific Northwest brand," Pardo Garcia says.
Different elements of the festival have also had different iterations in the past too. Aguacero, for example, which without a doubt is one of the event's major attractions, was formerly known as Cumbiaton and had a sister event in Los Angeles. "It'll be our return under this rebrand," Pardo Garcia explains.
This year Aguacero will be DJed by all local DJs — La Roxay Productions resident DJs Sergio Sibrian and Siempre Bruja, as well as DJ Essex. Additionally, Pardo Garcia says the event will have drag performances, a selfie station, and an additional market.
"Last year it was a really intergenerational cross-racial makeup of people," she says. "It wasn't just Latinos, it was like all over — there was a bunch of Black folks who showed up, Asian people, some white folks, like it was really a really good cross-representation of the community that we belong to, which is really cool."
Now that the event is also under the fiscal sponsorship of Alimentando el Pueblo, a culturally inclusive food bank for the King County Latino community that Pardo Garcia started in 2020, all proceeds from the event go toward the nonprofit and its mission and goals.
Last year's Bidi Bidi Bom Bash, the first in-person festival for the brand since pandemic lockdown sent almost all events virtual, made $7,000 and its night market was attended by 500 people.
"That is actually what we clocked in terms of participation in 2019 when we did it last time and for us to have the same turnout as we did before the pandemic to me is actually a really good indicator," says Pardo Garcia. This year she is anticipating even higher attendance numbers. "Maybe we'll hit the 1,000 mark," she says.
For more information about Bidi Bidi Bom Bash, visit its website or Instagram page.
El Festival Principal de Cumbia de Seattle Regresa
El festival en Burien que lleva el nombre de la exitosa cancin de Selena regresa el 13, 14 y 20 de abril.
por Agueda Pacheco Flores
Bidi Bidi Bom Bash regresa para traer su evento de tres das lleno de vendedores comunitarios, mercados y, lo mejor de todo, los ritmos de la cumbia al South End.
Las festividades comenzarn el prximo 13 de abril con un mercado en Lake Burien Presbyterian Church. Asistentes podrn visitar a una variedad de vendedores locales que venden desde arte y joyera hasta comida. El da siguiente, el 14 de abril, se realizar un "Bidi Bidi Bom Brunch" en La Esquina, que contar con actuaciones de drag. El festival finalizar el 20 de abril con su evento oficial de baile de cumbia llamado "Aguacero", un guio al clima lluvioso de Seattle, en Club Sur en SoDo. Tanto el Bidi Bidi Bom Brunch como Aguacero requieren entradas, que oscilan entre $10 y $80. Todos los eventos sern para todas las edades, excepto Aguacero.
"Se trata de unos 50 proveedores en total, ofreciendo una mezcla de bienes y servicios", dice Roxana Pardo Garca, quien organiza el evento desde sus inicios. "Tendremos dos pintores en vivo, Carlos Martnez y Jessica Mrquez, y luego Aileen Jimnez ofrecer un taller de arte durante el mercado", agreg.
El festival inspirado en Selena Quintanilla, cuyo nombre es un guio a su cancin de 1994 "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom", comenz en 2017, con eventos de karaoke ms pequeos en el rea de Burien. Desde entonces, el festival ha pasado por diferentes fases, con un evento virtual durante la pandemia y diferentes patrocinadores fiscales, pero este ao es diferente en otros aspectos. La productora de La Roxay Productions, Pardo Garca, realiza la residencia creativa. Los organizadores y el talento del evento son todos locales.
"Es una marca totalmente del Noroeste del Pacfico", dice Pardo Garca.
Los diferentes elementos del festival tambin han tenido diferentes iteraciones en el pasado. Aguacero, por ejemplo, sin duda una de las mayores atracciones del evento, antes se conoca como Cumbiatn y tena un evento hermano en Los ngeles. "Ser nuestro regreso con este cambio de marca", explica Pardo Garca.
Este ao, todos los DJ de Aguacero sern locales: los DJ residentes de La Roxay Productions, Sergio Sibrian y Siempre Bruja, as como DJ Essex. Adems, Pardo Garca dice que el evento contar con presentaciones de drag, una estacin de selfies y un mercado adicional.
"El ao pasado hubo una composicin interracial y realmente intergeneracional de personas", dice. "No fueron solo latinos, fue todo el mundo: hubo un grupo de negros que se presentaron, asiticos, algunos blancos, como una muy buena representacin de la diversidad de la comunidad a la que pertenecemos, lo cual es realmente genial".
Ahora que el evento tambin cuenta con el patrocinio fiscal de Alimentando al Pueblo, un banco de alimentos culturalmente inclusivo para la comunidad latina del condado de King que Pardo Garca cofund en 2020, todas las ganancias del evento se destinan a esta organizacin sin fines de lucro y su misin y objetivos.
El Bidi Bidi Bom Bash del ao pasado, el primer festival en persona de la marca desde que el confinamiento por la pandemia oblig a que casi todos los eventos fueran virtuales, recaud 7000 dlares, y 500 personas asistieron a su mercado nocturno.
"Eso es en realidad lo que registramos en trminos de participacin en 2019 cuando lo hicimos la ltima vez y, para m, tener la misma participacin que tenamos antes de la pandemia es en realidad un muy buen indicador", dice Pardo Garca. Este ao anticipa cifras de asistencia an mayores. "Tal vez alcancemos la marca de 1000", dice.
Para obtener ms informacin sobre Bidi Bidi Bom Bash, visite su sitio web o su pgina de Instagram.
Agueda Pacheco Flores is a journalist focusing on Latinx culture and Mexican American identity. Originally from Quertaro, Mexico, Pacheco is inspired by her own bicultural upbringing as an undocumented immigrant and proud Washingtonian.
📸 Featured Image: Queer Curismo, a vendor at last year's Bidi Bidi Bom Bash market. (Photo: Last Forever Images)
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