Southwest Fest: The Neighborhoods’ Biggest Music Event of the Summer

On Saturday, August 19th, 2023, the Senate Theater will be hosting Southwest Fest from 2pm-11pm. This will be the third consecutive year the community festival has taken place at the Senate Theater, and has continued to grow both in attendance and in contributors to the event. This year’s lineup will have a total of 45 acts, which is five more additional acts than last year’s event. Gabriel Duran, the event’s lead organizer, talks about how the event came to be and his passion for his community.

“There were a few years in a row where [Southwest Detroit] didn’t have the Cinco De Mayo festivities going on the same way they did when some of us were growing up where the parade would end with a large festival at Clark Park, and we started losing some events like the Puerto Rican festival. Those things don’t really happen too much,” Duran states. “You can go back even further back into the 80’s and 90’s, we used to have a Hispanic/Latin Festival Downtown in Hart Plaza, ”

Duran also explains how accessibility for community members serves as the festival’s biggest focus. “Of the festivals that have evolved into these large scale events, they started charging a lot of money, and we still live in a neighborhood where these types of festivals aren’t as accessible to a majority of the people in the neighborhood,” Duran said. “The biggest idea was accessibility…providing the neighborhood and community with a large-scale event, that’s just as exciting as these large-scale festivals, but it’s free; free for everybody to attend and to embrace the cultures that we have.”

With the cost of admission being free, one would wonder how the event makes any money. According to Duran, he and his team have put together a fundraising committee to reach out to local businesses that want to give back to the neighborhood through Southwest Fest. Duran and his team are now getting to a point financially, where they’re able to bring in money for the event through larger entities which gives them a chance to work with a larger budget than in previous years. As a result of each year’s success, the fundraising committee has been able to double in fundraising revenues , with hopes of doing the same this year.

Duran has also made it clear how important it is to showcase the talent that Southwest Detroit has. He states that 85 percent of this year’s lineup for the event is all from Southwest. A few of those names include Camilla Cantu, Estilo 45, and Disc Jockey George. “It’s [about] bringing it back to collectiveness with the community,” Duran states. “ By putting on a festival this size, it looks fun, and you’re automatically bringing that audience. When you bring that audience together, you’re showing them people who are essentially their neighbors and it’s going to make them support these artists more. The more support these artists get from their own community, the more likely it is that they’ll be able to elevate themselves consistently throughout their career and journey through music.”

There will be three stages: The Coney Lot which is aimed towards young adults; the Community Lot, which will serve as this year’s main stage and will have 70 vendors. Those vendors will consist of food services, community resources and other small businesses and will have performances from grupos, bandas, and younger acts. Finally, inside the State Theater, there will be short film presentations and dance groups.

Southwest Fest is open to all ages, something that Duran talks about as one of the highlights of the event. “It really is a huge mix,” Duran states. “You’ll see kids from 5-7 years old, to seeing our elders present, being in their early to late 70’s. [Southwest Fest] is one of the only times where we see all age demographics present at various points throughout the event in the same spot coexisting.”

This has been an event the community looks forward to every year. Duran states that many people reached out to him after the first event expressing not only how much they loved it, but how much it was needed. Within a few short years, Southwest Fest has become a staple event looking to raise the bar each and every year.

Eric Guzman was raised right outside of Detroit but has strong roots in the southwest area. Eric has a strong passion for writing about sports, music, pop culture. He graduated from The University of Michigan-Dearborn with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and strives to make an impact in the world of multimedia.