Fiesta de Napa theme for 2008 Fair

By KEVIN COURTNEY
Napa Valley Register

Napa’s growing Hispanic population will be honored with this year’s Napa Town and Country Fair theme, Fiesta de Napa.

The summer fair will feature more Latino performers, with organizers also trying to book a major Spanish-language act for the grandstand arena.

“Obviously the Hispanic population in our community is huge. We need to start marketing to that,” said Joe Anderson, CEO of Napa Valley Exposition, which sponsors the five-day August fair.

The Expo’s board of directors endorsed the Fiesta de Napa theme Tuesday, with Anderson promising it would be an all-inclusive multicultural celebration.

When the fairgrounds are decorated for the fair, “we’ll take all the vibrant colors of Mexico. We’ll combine it with the red, white and blue, the American flag, and cross-culture the whole thing,” Anderson said.

Anderson said he wants to add Latino bands and dancers to the fair’s entertainment mix. There will be mini fiestas scheduled each day on the main mall that bring together an explosion of talent, he said.

The gala that kicks off the fair on Aug. 6, has traditionally only featured high-end restaurants matched with high-end winemakers. This year the fair hopes to have Mexican food as part of the mix, Anderson said.

Fair attendance, which was nearly 60,000 last year, has been stagnant for a decade. It has not been keeping pace with community population growth.

Latino attendance has been high on Sundays and on Friday nights when there is a concert in the grandstand arena, Anderson said. By having Hispanic entertainment daily, the fair hopes to attract Latinos on other days as well, he said.

The Expo is working with a promoter to try to book a night of Latino entertainment to the grandstand arena, Anderson said. The fair was unsuccessful the past two years when the grandstand arena sat dark.

Anderson said he would be making contact with Latino organizations for ideas on how to celebrate Hispanic culture.

This is the first time that the fair theme has been in Spanish, Anderson said. Last year’s theme was “Shake Your Moove Thing.” In 2006, the theme was “Beach Blanket Baa-Baa-Lon.”

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