The city of Umatilla is preparing for another year of its Landing Days Festival, with a couple of changes in tow.
On June 23 and 24, the city hopes to rake in attendees to visit and take part in the annual festival, participating in games, visiting vendors and listening to live music.
Recreation coordinator Luke Romero said this year’s festival would bring with it some new additions.
“We kind of wanted to incorporate a little bit of a Hispanic heritage night to cater to our Latino population. So we are doing a Latino dance party starting at nine, and we have a local Hispanic band coming in,” he said.
The addition, called Grupo Viajero, pays a nod to the rising Hispanic population in Umatilla, which was 44% in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Romero said the idea for an homage to the population came from a community member.
“A lady had come up with it here and she is Latina, we have a lot of Hispanic people that work here, and she just thought it would be a cool idea,” he said. “And we told her that we’re willing to give anything a try.”
Other events on the agenda for the Umatilla festival include a salsa contest, sponsored by Acapulco Food Truck, the Marina Motors Car Show and a series of musical entertainment performed by local bands and musicians.
Romero said the duty of planning the Landing Days festival has passed through many hands, with this iteration being the Parks and Recreation Department’s first opportunity to plan and set up the celebration.
“In the past, the festival has brought in around 2,000 people,” Romero said. “We’ve done a ton of advertisement, we’ve gone to lengths to get bigger bands in here and more activities. So honestly, I would hope I hope to get 3,000 or 4,000 people.”
Romero said the city has a new platform for its lineup of performers to grace for the festival.
“We just got our new stage in, and the stage is huge,” he said. “It’s the size of a semi-truck trailer and it folds out. It’s all hydraulically operating. And this will be the first event that we kind of showed off at.”
Performers set to take the stage include the Brewer’s Grade Band on June 23 at 7 p.m., and Groove Principle and Quiet Riot on June 24 at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively.
Romero added the band Quiet Riot would be the biggest band to be brought in to the city for the festival.
Intended to celebrate the heritage of Umatilla, this year’s iteration of the Landing Days festival celebrates a demographic that makes up nearly half of the city’s population.
“The point of Landing Days, for us,” Romero said, “is just to give back and provide a fun family festival for the community.”
