Looking for delicious food and nonstop entertainment this weekend? The 19th annual Festival de la Familia will be taking place Sunday at Cal Expo. The day-long event is a celebration of family and all aspects of Latin culture, representing more than 20 cultures.

There will be live music and performances throughout the day as well as many beautiful exhibits to observe. Also, there will be an open-air mercado where numerous vendors will be offering unique goods like handcrafted musical instruments to original pieces of turquoise and silver jewelry.

New to this year's agenda will be two parades taking place at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The parades will include performances by the Charro Association of Woodland, Danzantes da Alma, Agua de Beber and Samba de Terra. All types of Latin dances will be demonstrated from tango to merengue, from rumba to cha-cha-cha. Free dance lessons will be available for those interested in boogieing down.

Festival Art Exhibit Chair Veronica Delgado has been involved as coordinator for the past three years and has attended the annual celebration since she was a little girl.

"It's a day for all cultures to come celebrate what the local Latino community has to offer," Delgado said. This year's art exhibit will be completely revamped in comparison to years prior. Delgado said she is excited about the new additions.

"This year we have a focus on contemporary artwork in California," she stated. "Also, we are incorporating more interactive and educational experiences."

Workshops will be conducted throughout the day by different groups of the community ranging from watercolor painting with the staff from the Crocker Art Museum to a lecture on higher education from the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, an organization based at California State University, Sacramento.

One of the featured visual artists will be Delgado's older brother and Sacramento native Raphael Delgado. He is a painter and sculptor who is linked to abstract-expressionism and abstract-impressionism while maintaining cubist qualities. His art focuses on common subjects and puts them in a powerful light, altering the perspective and filling the canvas with emotion.

"I get inspiration from my family, my culture and my upbringing as a Mexican-American," he said. Raphael and his artwork have been involved with the festival for the past five years, but every year he offers new pieces to exhibit.

"A great thing about the festival is that it's different every year," he said. "It's always evolving while staying authentic." He also said he is looking forward to Sunday because "(the event) brings out all the good things about Latin-American culture." For more information about Raphael Delgado and his work, visit artbyraphael.org.

The event kicks off at 9 a.m. on Sunday with a mass officiated by Reverend Monsignor James T. Murphy. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for seniors. Children under age 12 are free. For discounted tickets and more information about this event, visit festivaldelafamilia.org.

Photographs by Angela Cassagrande and Scott Zentner.  Artwork by Raphael Delgado.