The story
Fiesta DC in Washington
Fiesta DC is the Washington region's largest Latino cultural festival, produced by the nonprofit Fiesta DC Inc and held annually on the third Sunday of September. Rooted in a tradition dating back to the 1970s in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood, the festival now centers on Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues with its signature Parade of the Nations celebrating Latin American countries and communities across the metro area.
Long before it filled Constitution Avenue with flags and marching bands, Fiesta DC began as a neighborhood gathering in Mount Pleasant, the Washington neighborhood that became a landing point for Central American immigrants, particularly Salvadorans, arriving through the latter half of the twentieth century.