WELCOME TO FIESTA MEXICANA
An introduction to the Oregon Heritage Tradition.
Thirty miles south of Portland, Woodburn is perhaps most widely known for its rainbow of flowers at theWooden Shoe Tulip Farm and shopper’s haven Woodburn Premium Outlets. But if you venture further off Interstate-5, you’ll meet a friendly farming community that is a capital of Latinx culture in Oregon — a city that is 60 percent Latino and 83 percent among public schoolchildren. “It’s a bicultural, bilingual community,” says Anthony Veliz, who in 2000 became the first Latino elected to the Woodburn School Board. “We welcome all groups.”
For visitors, it’s a place rich with culture to discover — year-round but especially during the summer. Each August brings the three-day Fiesta Mexicana (Aug. 3-5, 2018), one of the state’s largest celebrations of Latino food, culture, art, music and community.