Photo by Miller Outdoor Theatre.  (Little Joe and Isabel Marie)

From Tejano and Conjunto, to Mariachi and orchestra, this festival is one of the oldest ongoing cultural free events of its type. Come celebrate Chicano music at Houston’s own Miller Outdoor Theatre, where tickets are free, but you need to reserve a ticket for the covered seats. As always, the hillside is open for anyone to throw down a blanket and plop down.

Festival Chicano turns 46 this year, but the music is still as lively and popular as it was when the festival was founded at the height of the Chicano movement in 1979.

Daniel Bustamante was, and still is, a civil rights activist, proponent of Chicano culture, an advocate for fair housing, and a union organizer, among other things. He is a true hero of Houston history, with a legacy that goes far beyond the festival, but it is his founding and producing of this cultural event that he may be best remembered for.

“We often had rallies in the city parks with bands,” Bustamante recalls of the 70s. But they finally told us we couldn’t do that anymore, too many people, not enough amenities.” One of the few venues available for such an event was the historic Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park. “It took us three years before they finally gave us a date and a small grant,” he says. José María De León Hernández, better known as Little Joe of Little Joe y Familia, was a friend and donated his band’s performance for that first concert.

“We had ten thousand people show up,” Bustamante says, “and it poured down rain, but no body left.”

It was so successful he’s brought Festival Chicano back every year since then. Little Joe has played it often and will be back this year as well. Selena played the event as a teenager, Bustamante has known her since she was 13, and later on after she became famous and was filling arenas, she asked to come back to play the festival, for a reduced fee. The recently deceased Flaco Jimenez has also played the festival.

The lineup for the three evenings this year is: Ricky Naranjo y Los Gamblers and Mike Gonzalez and The Iconiczz opening night Oct. 2, five-time Grammy-winner Joe y La Familia and La Sombra de Tony Guerrero on Oct.3, and Isabel Marie and Ricardo Castillon y La Diferencia closing night Oct. 4.

Bustamante calls Marie, a 22-year-old Tejano artist, one of the younger performers coming up who will be huge stars of the genre. He feels good about the future of the culture, saying the talent is there, and the audience is there but the problem is finding family-friendly venues for Chicano music.

“I want to preserve the culture and the history of Chicano music,” Bustamante says. “It’s my passion, I love the arts.”

by Marene Gustin