Small Business Pregones
On Sunday, May 21, 2023, Beacon Business Alliance (BBA) and Movimiento Afrolatino Seattle (MÁS) presented Beacon Hill Small Business Pregones, an open-air performance celebrating Latin American and Caribbean oral street traditions. During that afternoon we recreated the atmosphere of a Latin American street market at Plaza Roberto Maestas. Five local artists teamed up with five Beacon Hill small business owners to create pregones/songs, presenting them publicly for the first time during the event.
Plaza Roberto Maestas was filled with colors
Part of the street of the plaza was filled with life as Super Familia, a collective founded by and for young migrants from Central America, created a chalk mural while nearby Kelly Sommerfeld, a BBA board member and MÁS volunteer, created beautiful face paintings for the children present. Further in the plaza, you could find screen printing of MÁS t-shirts, an informational video of the history of pregones, a slideshow presentation to accessibly introduce the performing artists and MÁS, and a collective ofrenda created for street vendors, past, present, and future created by students of Michelle Habell-Pallan, professor at the University of Washington’s Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies Department. To complete the scene, the music took place at the entrance of El Centro de la Raza, where attendees had the opportunity to dance to Afro-diasporic rhythms from hip-hop to cumbia, guided by co-MCs Hever Bustos (writer and urban musician from Super Familia) and Milvia Pacheco Salvatierra (MÁS Executive Director).
Celebrating the tradition of pregones
Pregones are the rhythmic or musical cries of street vendors to promote their sales. We want to keep bringing them to life from a new perspective, using them to support and promote the small businesses of Beacon Hill – businesses founded with values of respect and inclusion, that want to take their products directly into our communities’ hands, just like our street vendors (pregoneros) in other latitudes of Abya Yala. Thanks to everyone whose collaboration and community spirit made this event a success.
Listen to the pregones that Beacon Hill business owners and local Afrolatino artists produced together, and learn more about these great businesses!
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Seattle Fandango Project
The Fandango traditions of Veracruz, Mexico, use music, singing, and dancing to generate a spirit of convivencia—of living and being in community. For more than a decade, musicians in Veracruz and in California have built a movement of convivencia through Fandango Sin Fronteras (Fandango Without Borders).
The Seattle Fandango Project, operating as a collective, brings this movement to Seattle through workshops, concerts, and public discussions with guest artists. Come experience, and learn!
Correo Aéreo
Hailing from Mexico City, Abel Rocha is a vocalist, string instrumentalist of various forms of folk guitars (Quinta Huapanguera, Jaranas, Cuatro Venezolano), harpist, and player of many native instruments from Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, and other South American countries.
Before forming Correo Aéreo in 1992, he made concert tours of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Since 2001 he chose Seattle as a place to live and has been part of different artistic groups and educational and cultural projects, most recently Trio Guadalevin.
Hijos de Agüeybaná
Directed by Otoqui Reyes, Hijos de Agüeybaná is made up of eight artists committed to preserving their Afro-Caribbean roots. The group has more than ten years of experience conducting and offering workshops and courses on the historical and cultural importance of the bomba genre. Otoqui's current focus centers in art and music as a vehicle of liberation or expression.
Alfredo Chavez
Alfredo is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer. His group repertoire includes bolero, pasillo, cueca, joropo, cumbia, son, guajira, Andean music, merengue and calypso, as well as popular ballads. An educator and cultural ambassador, Chávez was previously Folk Troubadour and Professor at the National University of Panama.
DE CAJóN Project
DE CAJóN Project is a community arts organization dedicated to highlighting the cultural contributions of people of African descent in Peru. As a movement, they facilitate music and dance workshops, offer lectures and residencies, perform widely throughout the Pacific Northwest, and build intercultural and intergenerational communities through art.
PARTICIPATING BUSINESSES
Beacon Hill Nutrition
A place where people gather together to talk about health and nutrition ... A place where the Beacon Hill community can connect with fitness classes and order delicious smoothies, protein-rich waffles, or specialty coffees. All that they servir is healthy!
The Station
The Station is a representation of the commitment of our owners, staff and customers to continue having a visible stronghold in Beacon Hill, a community that has served us for decades- in a vast city that is rapidly changing. We have always been more than just a coffee house and wine bar.
Cafetal Quilombo
A cozy restaurant focused on serving up authentic Mexican food for the Beacon Hill neighborhood. You can order freshly made tamales, chilaquiles, pozole, tacos, quesadillas, and more.
Recetas de Abuelita
Recetas de Abuelita serves up delicious food with authentic homemade flavor. Located in the Roberto Maestas Plaza - stop by to try their tacos, quesadillas, and tamales.
Antojitos Lita Rosita
Rosa, originally from San Pedro Tututepec in Oaxaca, brings the best in Oaxacan cuisine made with care and love to our community. Her business serves great dishes like tlayudas, tamales, sopes, and tostadas.