UMANI Festival sees successes in 2025

MOSES LAKE – The Annual UMANI festival was held Saturday this year on Third Avenue, hosted by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, the Moses Lake Public Library and EDUBS.  

“It went really well,” said Colombia Basin Allied Arts Executive Director Shawn Cardwell. “We’re grateful to the city for hosting us so generously and I think every performance was fantastic, all the food was delicious, all the resources were engaging, and the lowriders were gorgeous.” 

The UMANI Festival invited people to come explore downtown, stop at food vendors and celebrate Hispanic heritage. Third Avenue was lined with learning and craft stands, community resources, food, lowrider car vehicles and a variety of performances such as music, dancing and luchador wrestling. 

Cardwell said something that all the event organizers felt this year was a sense of confidence in running the festival. Putting together a major event in town can be a struggle with finding the right date and getting funding sponsors and volunteers, but in the UMANI Festival’s fourth year of operation, she felt it went very well. 

“All of those things really came together this year,” she said. “We had volunteers, we relied heavily on the Job Corps and also the Moses Lake TRIO program.” 

This year, the festival moved the luchador performances into the Youth Dynamics building and had two performances by Northwest Pro and Lucha Volcanica. EDUBS was the major sponsor for the luchador event, with owner Paul Carney hosting and organizing the event. 

Some of the music performances were conducted by mariachi bands from around the state which included Mariachi Huenachi from Wenatchee High School, Mariachi de Los Aguilas and Mariachi Noroeste, who would play music while walking along the street.  

Dancing performances consisted of traditional Mexican folklorico but also had performances from Hermanos de los Andes with folklorico dancing and costumes from the Andes region of South America and Cana Dulce Seattle with folklorico dancing from Costa Rica. 

Every year, the festival also works with Big Bend Community College to create a scholarship grant using a portion of the income from sponsorships and vendors, which is awarded to a college student who the organizers feel is going to be a leader in the Hispanic community. Cardwell said this year the organizers had one of the students who received the grant, Maria Venegas, come up on stage and speak about what that meant to her. 

One major change to the UMANI Festival this year was the decision to exclude a beer garden, which was made due to the amount of setup it takes and the financial drain it brought to the festival.  

“We just didn’t do it this year, and it was absolutely not missed, and it was a really cool realization to think adults are going to come, adults are going to have a good time, we absolutely don’t need alcohol here,” she said. “And it made some of our volunteers, especially since we have so many kids volunteering with us, it really made that just feel more comfortable.” 

There were some concerns about whether there would be a UMANI Festival this year, but Cardwell said the Moses Lake Public Library made a push to ensure that the festival happened.  

“When we were at one of the very first Moses Lake Creative District meetings at the Moses Lake Museum, it was the Moses Lake Public Library who said we need to have a Hispanic heritage celebration during National Hispanic Heritage Month,” she said. “Everyone at that meeting said, ‘Yep, we absolutely need to.’” 

Cardwell expressed gratitude to all the sponsors and volunteers for their help in ensuring the event could happen this year and said she is looking forward to seeing everyone back again next year. 

    People walk along Third Avenue, admiring the different stands and lowrider cars during the UMANI Festival. This year’s festival had a large turnout to honor National Hispanic Heritage Month.
  

    In the midst of the lowrider vehicles, a DJ plays music for attendees out of the tailgate of his truck.
  

    People look at a row of lowrider cars in the Washington Federal parking lot during the UMANI Festival. The lowrider vehicles took up a large portion of Third Avenue and drew in a large crowd.
  

    Attendees at the UMANI Festival gather in a shaded seating area to take a rest and eat food. The UMANI Festival featured a variety of different local food vendors.
  

    A volunteer from the Moses Lake Museum and Art Center shows two children a doll making project she is working on at the UMANI Festival. The festival included a variety of different interactive projects that attendees could get involved with.