Central Oregon cultural events canceled over safety concerns

In Central Oregon, cultural groups are pulling back from organizing large public events due to concerns of participants being detained or deported by the Trump administration, with community organizers citing fears of violence against Black, Latino and Asian people.

This week, organizers announced separately that two marquee cultural events have been canceled. Press releases for both Latino Fest and Juneteenth cited concerns over safety for participants.

“There is heightened fear among immigrant community members due to recent immigration enforcement actions, anti-immigrant rhetoric, or rumors of raids or targeting,” Latino Community Association Executive Director Catalina Sánchez Frank said in a statement.

The nonprofit organizes Latino Fest in Madras every September, except for 2020 and 2021, when COVID paused nearly all community events.

The Father’s Group released a separate statement announcing Juneteenth would also not take place this year. The Black cultural event usually takes place in Bend’s Drake Park.

“In today’s increasingly volatile political climate, with rising incidents of racial aggression and threats—particularly toward Black and Latino communities—safety must come first,” according to a statement from the group.

Central Oregon safety

Central Oregon has been dealing with a steady drip of high-profile racist incidents in recent years, from racial slurs being screamed repeatedly during a Bend public meeting to rocks being thrown at a mariachi band in Redmond.

Bend Equity and Inclusion Director Andrés Portela III said he’s grateful LCA “decided to just pivot for this year and think about what does the future look like,” calling the cancellation a step toward community preservation and healing.

In late January, LCA said a man was detained by ICE in Central Oregon. Sánchez Frank told OPB at the time that the organization was rethinking holding Central Oregon’s biggest Latino cultural heritage festival, which typically draws thousands of people from across the state.

“Do we want to have that? Do we want to have the community gather at one place at one time? I don’t know,” she said.

That was about the time Ana Bueno said she started getting calls from people asking about Latino Fest. Bueno is a client services manager for LCA in Madras and the event committee lead.

Last month, the organization internally decided to cancel the event. Latino people in Madras reported feeling fearful of leaving their homes to go to work or go shopping, Bueno said, and organizations were starting to pull out of the event.

Like Juneteenth, Latino Fest is held at a city park. Bueno said moving the event to a more secure location is not possible. There’s nowhere else in Madras able to accommodate the crowds.

She said moving the event to a different town has been discussed in the past, however, she said the event belongs to the Latino community of Madras who have helped put it on.

In previous years, she said, people have protested the event while waving Trump flags, and nothing major has happened. But, she said, this year feels different.

Regional events continue

This isn’t the only time a cultural event has been canceled due to fears of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In 2019, a Latino music festival was canceled in Jerome, Idaho after speculation about potential ICE activity.

This year, just a short drive away in Twin Falls, Idaho, that community’s Latino Fest is expected to take place. Other Latino cultural events are still scheduled to happen in both urban and rural Pacific Northwest areas.

Organizers confirmed Latino Cultural Festival in Hillsboro, Fiesta Mexicana in Woodburn and Fiestas Mexicanas in Wenatchee, Washington, are still on track to take place.

“We believe that our people need, more than ever, to relate in diverse events that can unite our community,” said Martha Zaldivar with Fiestas Mexicanas.

Large events like Cinco de Mayo and El Grito in Portland and MEXAMNW Festival in Seattle are moving forward, according to organizers.

“It’s always disheartening to hear about other cultural celebrations being canceled — these events play such a vital role in honoring and uplifting our communities,” said Karla Nahmmacher with the MEXAMNW Festival.

Pivoting to private

Last year, the Asian Pacific Islanders Collective in Central Oregon made the decision to make their Spring Festival event by invitation only.

APIC Co-founder huong tran said the decision was made after some attendees disrespected and mocked authentic cultural dances and regalia during a previous event.

This year, the February celebration took place in a house of worship and was not widely publicized.

Just weeks before the event, President Donald Trump had signed an executive order lifting a ban on federal agents entering houses of worship and schools in order to make arrests.

At the beginning of the APIC event in Bend, tran asked for people to volunteer to interact first with any federal immigration officers, should they arrive.

One by one, people stood to volunteer. A round of applause followed.

Kenneth Adams, executive director of the Father’s Group, said it’s not possible to move Juneteenth to a secure private place. An average of 15,000 people have attended the free weekend event in past years, Adams said, which makes it hard to find a suitable alternative venue.

‘Time for white people to show up’

Adams said in addition to safety concerns, the national political climate informed the decision to cancel Juneteenth in Bend.

Like Bueno, Adams also said part of the decision came from a gut feeling.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” he said. “I literally have witnessed people being accosted just for walking down the street, and getting yelled at because they look a certain way, or they come from a certain country.”

Last weekend, protests against the Trump administration took place across the county. Local media outlets reported more than 1,000 people turned out in Bend. OPB documented the moment as hundreds of people crowded a downtown intersection. It was the largest protest some attendees said they’ve ever seen in Bend, including Sisters resident Annemarie Crosier.

Born in the Netherlands, she said showing up to the event was important to her because her Dutch grandmother had told her stories about people being disappeared by the Nazis.

Crosier noted the high number or white people attending the Bend protest.

“Black people have been putting their bodies on the sidewalk, so to speak, for decades, and it’s really time for white people to show up in force,” she said.