Taco ’bout awesome! VIVA ARTACO returns this year even bigger and better! Featuring a transformation into a full-on Hispanic Heritage Festival and marking the end of what will surely be another successful #EatBmt Restaurant Week, Viva ArTaco will take place Saturday, May 14, 2022, at the Beaumont Civic Center and around downtown Beaumont. The festival will bring out artisans, restaurants, groups, attractions, and more, to emphasize and celebrate the local Hispanic culture. This FREE event is open to everyone, with food vendors, entertainment, activities, and games for the community to enjoy.

Following a boost in activity in the post-COVID world and the successful Beaumont Mural Festival that brought more than ten new murals to Beaumont, there’s a lot of positive buzz and momentum in the area that we hope to see continue forward. ArTaco holds a particularly special place in my heart. It was like taking a deep breath for the first time since March 2020. ArTaco was timed perfectly to coincide with the entire public’s readiness for normalcy following several seasons of stringent social distancing. It brought us all together again. Here are some excerpts that I wrote following ArTaco 2021:

it’s true that everything was amazing, colorful, interactive, fun, etc. All the best adjectives that could possibly describe a great day. What made it perfect and really put the icing on the cake for us was how perfectly NORMAL it was. It could have been any day prior to March 2020 – and we were all so grateful.

My sweet oldest is prone to fits of loving exaggeration and often tells me “this is the BEST day EVER!” But he might have set a new personal record for the number of times I heard that at ArTaco – and I think he might have been right.

My husband told me recently that he felt like his day-to-day was relatively unchanged by the pandemic. Yes, he’s required to wear a mask at work; yes, he’s increased his handwashing, and all of the other things that have become normal to all of us now. But for a homeschool family who found ALL of their extracurriculars shut down, there were days and weeks where we literally felt trapped. The negative effects of isolation on mental health are well-documented, so I won’t get into that. Instead, I’ll just say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who worked behind the scenes, all of the amazing vendors, and to anyone and everyone who was in any small way responsible for such a great event. They all worked tirelessly to bring joy, normalcy, and community back into our lives in such a fun, colorful, safe, amazing way. There literally are not words (despite the length of this paragraph) for how grateful I am to them for giving us the opportunity to have this perfect day.

It was the first thing that felt normal in over a year, like a remnant from pre-pandemic life that was almost too good to be true. I’m not sure my relief and gratitude really translates, despite all of the gushiness in those excerpts. The way I felt following ArTaco last year felt too big for words. All of our individual families of all shapes, sizes, and types came together to enjoy and appreciate the local flair and flavor, bringing with us the lessons of the pandemic that taught us to appreciate togetherness. ArTaco 2021 reminded us that we truly are better together. With the new billing of a Hispanic Heritage Festival, Viva ArTaco is shaping up to teach us to celebrate our differences and individuality while still appreciating the things that make us a community.

Monday, April 18 is the last day for vendors to apply!

VENDOR FORM
FOOD VENDOR FORM
SPONSORSHIP FORM
More information available via BeaumontCVB.com

Will you be attending Viva ArTaco this year?

Be sure to look for the 409 Family booth and come say hi!