Vendors that have long counted on the annual Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the East End for income will not be allowed back on the Navigation esplanade this year due to overcrowding concerns.
For about 40 years, the celebration of La Virgen de Guadalupe has brought thousands of people to Our Lady of Guadalupe church on the East End. Alongside the parishioners lining up to pay their respects, dozens of vendors would reserve spaces on the Navigation esplanade to sell visitors food, flowers for the virgin and other goods.
But this year, the East End District has stopped renting spaces to vendors, displacing between 50 to 60 of them who were recurring participants in the event.
“As part of our commitment to ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience for all attendees, we have reserved the Esplanade at Navigation as an open space,” reads a written statement issued by the East End District, which manages infrastructure projects in the area and the esplanade itself during community events.
“By keeping the Esplanade free from vendor overcrowding, we aim to maintain the area’s accessibility and safety while minimizing the impact on the surrounding neighborhood,” their message continues.
While vendors won’t be allowed to set up on the esplanade, they have the option to find other spaces for rent, mainly through private businesses who offer parking lots along the Navigation corridor.
“Nos agarro por sorpresa,” said vendor Elizabeth Valencia about how the change caught her business, Taquiza La Charra, by surprise.
Valencia and their family decided not to participate this year, after nearly 10 years of setting up their stand on the esplanade.
“We were used to going every year, so it felt like they threw a bucket of cold water on us,” Valencia said in Spanish.
Last year, the event drew about 22,000 visitors, an uptick from the 19,900 recorded by the East End District in 2019, said Rick Cardenas, director of external affairs for the district. This year the celebration is expected to draw similar crowds.
The East End District does not have an official affiliation with the Catholic church’s celebration, but for many years it has managed the use of the esplanade to provide a more organized avenue for vendors, Cardenas said.
After years of paying attention to overcrowding, especially in the areas adjacent to the esplanade such as sidewalks, Cardenas said they decided to leave the vendor situation to other parties in the area and reserve the esplanade for those looking for a place to eat their food, sit with their family or simply wait for mass to begin.
But the concern of having vendors set up in other areas without reserving a spot or getting the appropriate permits to sell food or other goods remains an issue, he said.
“We want to try to support churches, and any other organization,”Cardenas said. “The church puts on this event, but from what I understand they are only officially responsible for what happens within their property. But obviously the people that participate in this event are not just on their property.”
Loss of income
For many of these vendors, the event provides a good chunk of their annual income, and they prepare months in advance with the goods they will serve and the staff they will need.
The Bonilla family has counted on this event for at least 25 percent of their annual income for the past decade, Cilia Bonilla said. They sell fruit, nachos and other snacks, so they prepare for at least three months before the two-day event. When they got notice in October of the change, a good portion of the goods had already been paid for, she said.
Every year, the Bonillas are among the first to secure a spot at the esplanade and have always gone through organizer Daniel Hinojosa, who was tapped nearly 10 years ago to help manage the market on the Navigation esplanade only by East End District.
This year, with the ban on vendors on the esplanade, it’ll be difficult to determine or manage how many vendors will participate.
City Council Member Mario Castillo, who represents District H, said he heard about the overcrowding and security issues from several parties. Among those concerned were area residents and business owners who were worried the event’s crowd was too large to be managed.
From his perspective having talked to all of those involved, it seems like there is an issue with lack of oversight of the event as a whole.
“To me it is clear that this needs more structure,” Castillo said. “It needs an organization that is going to step up and say ‘we are going to take ownership of this and is going to coordinate with the church, and the management district and the city.”
This year is a trial of sorts, Castillo added, stating the changes on the esplanade are only one piece of what might need to change in order to make this staple event sustainable for the community. His office acted as a liaison between the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, which is getting involved for the first time this year, he said.
For the vendors impacted, this initial change came out of nowhere. The Bonillas quickly pivoted when they were told in October and secured a spot at the Merida restaurant about a block away from the church.
Hinojosa, who secured the spots for many of these vendors in past years, said he had no option but to let them know to find a place elsewhere. For him, the irony of this is that the portion of the market that got canceled is the one that was carefully managed and property permitted.
Hinojosa does not blame the East End District, he said. If anything, he thinks district leaders did everything they could to keep things as safe and properly managed as possible. But he does worry that vendors will still set up wherever they can.
“We’re not going to have my element of operations in the event, but I’ve been told that we’re going to have some measure of the city’s involvement,” Hinojosa said. “They are going to make an attempt to keep it clear, but they have not done that in the past.”
‘No es fiesta cualquiera’
The Fiesta Guadalupana takes place every Dec. 11 and 12. Officials expect about 3,000 visitors each evening, including parishioners who participate in pilgrimages from other area churches, said Elizabeth Torres, office business manager at Our Lady of Guadalupe.
In between masses, the priests reserve spots for blessings and might even add masses based on demand each year, Torres said. Along with mass, the church also hosts Aztec dancing, mariachi performances and more.
Outside the church along Navigation, the scene turns into a 48-hour market with vendors selling flowers, food and even toys to entertain the youngest attendees.
Torres said having fewer vendors outside the church grounds would leave the space open for those who are there specifically for the religious celebration.
“I think that’s just what made the area a little bit more crowded,” she said. “You could tell apart who the pilgrims are, the ones who were actually coming and paying homage to La Virgen, and getting in line to visit the church as opposed to the ones who just said, ‘Hey there’s something going on outside.’”
This will also be the first year that the church was asked to reserve a lane closure in front of the church along Navigation to accommodate foot traffic and make things safer for pedestrians, Torres said. They’ve also been told city health inspectors will be on site to keep street vending safe for attendees.
“People do line up to get into the church, so we’ll have at least that part of the street secure for them,” Torres said. “We are hoping – again this is trial and error, is the first time we are doing this – that the lane closure will help with that, illegal vending and everything else.”
Bonilla sees this latest change as a misunderstanding of the purpose of the event and their role in the celebration. While the name refers to a “fiesta” or party, she says this is a religious event where families attend to pay respects, not to cause trouble. And vendors are there to add to this event with traditional foods and other goods that are culturally appropriate.
“No es fiesta cualquiera,” Bonilla said. “People come here for religion, they don’t come here to fight, they don’t come here to drink. They come to fulfill their promises to the virgin, they come for the pilgrimage.”
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