Welcome!

Whether our families have lived here for generations or we’ve only recently settled into the area, all of us who call the neighborhoods of Northeast L.A. home share a place that’s heir to a rich and compelling history, an environment with great potential for renewal and a brilliant patchwork of cultures and ethnicities that can—and should—enrich all our lives.

Our corner of the city is almost uniquely diverse. But whether our roots are in Mexico or Central America, in Europe, Africa or Asia, or if, as Native Americans, our families have lived on this continent for millennia, we share an essential connection between ourselves and the place we live and an interest in improving it.

The scores of volunteers, organizers, artists and teachers who devote countless hours each year to presenting this Festival fervently hope that this event, and the educational and library activities that precede it, will help strengthen all that ties us together in our neighborhoods.

We hope that by sharing our poetry, our art, our dance, our music, our food and fun, we’ll have added to an understanding of our different cultures, an appreciation of the things we have in common and to our ability to work together to strengthen our community.

Welcome to the third annual Lummis Day: The Festival of Northeast Los Angeles.

—Eliot Sekuler