It somehow feels like I missed spring this year. This past Saturday felt like a summer day and many people were out enjoying the weather. June 11 was the second Saturday of June and many events allowed families to go out and enjoy the weather and celebrate Sacramento's Second Saturday Art Walk. Spanglish Arte celebrated their 2nd Annual Piñata Festival. Both sides of 23rd Street (between I and J Streets) had vendors and artists showing their goods. The street was still open for traffic and parking during the event. Mari Arreola along with family and friends made this a community event suitable for an all ages. Arreola handpicked the vendors at the fest and enjoyed seeing the many guests

A mainstay at children’s birthday parties, candy-filled pinatas are ornaments made to break, and for people of all ages who delight in Latin-based fanfare, the second annual Piñata Festival is coming back to Midtown Saturday. The festival will be held from noon - 9 p.m. along 23rd Street between I and J streets. People who turn out for the event can expect to find vendors serving traditional Mexican food and fusion food. Gourmet Mexican ice cream and other deserts will be made by Doña Coco of Sacramento. According to Mari Arreola, gallery owner of Spanglish Arte, local artists Chulo Baby, and Rachel Knipping and others will have art for sale. UC Davis Professor of Chicano Students Xico

Last week, The Sacramento Press wrote about local youth and hip-hop legend KRS-One spearheading a fundraiser for the Washington Neighborhood Center. Unfortunately, the event was not "well-attended enough on its own to make a significant dent in our financial burden," said the center's vice president Adria Banihashemi. The center's financial problems have been building over the last five years, Banihashemi explained. One of the center's main donors, United Way, a budget-challenged non-profit itself, has sent the center significantly less money in the last few years. But it wasn't one grant, person or event that caused the struggle for money, Banihashemi said. "Lower attendance at events

Social worker, event planner, and occasional singer/rapper Aria Des Jardins scheduled KRS-One to perform a benefit concert Monday night when she heard that the Washington Neighborhood Center was facing total closure. The center has been supportive of Sacramento's hip hop community and had held many hip hop concerts, she explained. "Hip hop is about people, things that don't have anything to do with entertainment," said Eric Duran, associate advocate for the Temple of Hiphop. The organization was formed by emcee and peace advocate KRS-One, who is known for his Stop the Violence campaign as well as his efforts pioneering hip hop culture. Sacramento's young people proved that they would hav

Want to learn about hip hop or the hip hop music industry? This weekend provides a perfect opportunity--the Sacramento Chapter of the Hip Hop Congress will be holding its first awareness festival May 22 through May 24 at the Washington Neighborhood Center at 400 16th Street in midtown Sacramento. Hip Hop Congress is a nonprofit organization that identifies itself as "an international grassroots network that educates, empowers, and unites individuals...preserv[ing] and evolv[ing] hip hop by inspiring social action and cultural creativity within the community." The organization claims more than 50 chapters nationwide, in addition to chapters in Europe and Africa. Vanessa Amarro, co-chair