This year, Raizado, Aspen’s Latine-focused festival, reaches the halfway point in its goal of holding the festival annually for 10 years. But founder Mónica Ramírez said she hopes it lasts far beyond that milestone.
“I'm not putting a time limit on it,” she said. “If we can make it to the decade, I hope we can make it for 10 more years after that.”
The festival’s programming will start tomorrow at the Paul JAS Center. Tickets for all events are sold out, and like last year, the free community day is canceled this year, out of concern for increased immigration enforcement activity. However, the ribbon-cutting ceremony, at the Aspen Mountain Gondola Plaza at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, will be open to the public.
This year’s speakers include prominent Latine leaders like Texas congressman Joaquín Castro, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar and celebrity chef Claudia Sandoval. Several locals also made the lineup, including Veronica Lopez, who manages education and community programs at the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Lopez attended Raizado the past two years as an audience member. She said joining the community day and watching speakers has helped her realize that her story and success matters too.
“I knew a lot of successful Hispanic people, but not in the fields of business and politics and advocacy and arts and culture,” Lopez said. “That was another moment of representation where I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I matter too, and I can make a difference.’”
This year, she’ll be on the main stage to talk about her journey from helping her family pass their citizenship exams, to studying music at Carnegie Mellon University and holding a top position at the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Lopez will also share what she’s learned about the power of the collective, which she hopes to instill in her young students.
“We have the power to change our own lives,” she said. “But if anything, Raizado has also showed me that … we can't do it alone.”
Her message closely aligns with the festival’s theme this year: “Seeding Change.”
Ramírez said it’s an evolution from where the festival began, seeing the changes that have grown from their initial goal of being “rooted” in community.
“I'm hoping that the seeds that we plant here will bloom … over the course of years and decades.”
Ramírez is already seeing evidence of “big shifts” both locally and nationally that hearten her, including the recent decision by the City of Glenwood Springs to pursue legal action against the owner of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
“Everyday community members are making statements about how they support and value immigrant community members,” Ramírez said. “They're being loud about it and they're being brave in the actions they're taking.”
Colorado State Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, who represents House District 57 spanning from Aspen to Parachute, will also speak during the festival. This year, Velasco said she’ll focus her remarks on the ways elected officials can protect residents, regardless of immigration status.
“There's many tools that the state and local communities have to keep our communities safe,” she said.
Velasco hopes in the coming years, Raizado will expand downvalley to communities like Rifle and New Castle, to connect with more locals.
Founder Ramírez hopes to keep building the festival in its next five years. She believes it could be a way to bring together leaders who can enact change in their communities.
“We need to understand: what are the points of commonality,” she said. “At the heart of it, [Raizado is] about figuring out what are our policy priorities and how are we moving together to make change on those.”
