Today, the Grand Rapids Hispanic Festival organizers made the sad decision to cancel the 2020 festival due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Oddly, it’s with this announcement that I’m starting to realize even when we start opening up, summer will feel weird with the lack of entertainment to go out and do.

According to the post on the festival Facebook page,

After much deliberation, we concluded that the health and wellbeing of our community is far too important. Our focus for the rest of the year will continue to be serving the Latino/Hispanic community, especially those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to do that last part, the Hispanic Center needs the funding that would normally be coming in from the festival, that’s their main funding for the year.  Their post says they are asking their corporate sponsors to still donate the same amount they normally would, but now they are reaching out to the community that normally goes and enjoys the weekend festival.

Our work is just getting started - this pandemic has further confirmed the existing inequities prevalent in our communities and your Hispanic Center of Western Michigan team is committed to providing the best services to ALL Hispanics/Latinos whatever their status may be but we need YOUR support!

If you’re ready to donate, you can do it online through their website, hispanic-center.org, or go old school and mail a check to their office at 1204 Grandville Avenue SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503.

Organizers are already planning to bring the Grand Rapids Festival back as normal in 2021.

Enter your number to get our free mobile app

Things I'll Miss After the Quarantine is Over

More From 97.9 WGRD