EDINBURG — Music reverberated from the streets surrounding Edinburg’s City Hall as Frida Fest was in full swing Saturday, kicking off another event in the Rio Grande Valley that has returned after being forced to cancel due to the pandemic in 2020.
Honoring Frida Kahlo, the festival is a celebration of Kahlo and women. The sun shined brightly on those efforts Saturday as well as upon the many volunteers, street and food vendors as they took shade in the many canopies lined up and down the streets across city hall and spread throughout the courtyard.
The various foods on sale made the scene reminiscent of the street markets in Mexico.
Besides food, vendors’ merchandise ranged from jewelry, hats, various styles of clothing and fashionable accessories.
Event runners prepared for the heat by setting up makeshift contraptions of wooden posts lined with hoses that sprayed mists of water to keep attendees cool.
A small section of carnival rides for children was set up as well and various free games to entertain the kids were also strewn about the event.
The first of many attractions for Frida Fest was the lookalike contest where participants inspired by either Kahlo’s fashion, art or political activism dressed up as the famous Mexican artist to be judged on their appearance, which was held at the Edinburg Municipal Auditorium.
“To me, [Kahlo] is an inspiration because of everything she went through,” said Erika Garza, a competitor in the contest who styled herself as Kahlo in the October 1937 edition of Vogue. “I think she transformed something negative into art and that’s what I do sometimes.
“I write poetry so if something bad happens to me, I write it and make it into a poem and then I feel better afterwards. I feel like I relate to her in that way.”
Garza not only competed in the contest but was also part of the short play performed at the auditorium, “Momentos de Frida Kahlo,” where she played the role of a young adult Kahlo.
“We have two years presenting this play in the Edinburg auditorium,” play director Wendy Lara said in Spanish. “On this occasion, there’s four females presenting and relating to different phases or stages of Frida Kahlo’s life such as her childhood, her years as a youth, her relationship with her parents and her love of (her husband) Diego.”
The play was concluded with the performance of a cover of “La Llorona” by Chevela Vargas — a Mexican singer known for her renditions of Mexican rancheras — by the play’s narrator and accompanied by a guitarist.
Following the play was a women’s empowerment panel moderated by University of Texas Rio Grande Valley associate professor Dr. Kimberly Selber. The panel consisted of women in leadership roles such as Hidalgo County Democratic Party Chair Norma Ramirez and business owner and Precinct 4 county commissioner Ellie Torres.
“You have to demand it but you must have the qualifications and sometimes you must exceed those qualifications,” Ramirez said during the panel when asked how women can begin empowering themselves. “Because being a woman you not only have to be as good as what a man can do in that position, but a lot of the time you have to be better.”
After the panel, an artist Q&A was held for several young female artists from across the Rio Grande Valley, whose art was also on display and on sale at an art exhibit across the auditorium in city hall.
Once the sun was setting and the heat lessened, the main stage came to life as musical performances by bands, including Las Fenix began to perform.
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