BISBEE, ARIZ. (KGUN) — Nine years in, Bisbee's yearly Mariachi Festival has grown so big, the team that puts it together is throwing the all-day party at Warren Ballpark.
Beyond the music and history, these neighbors — and members of the Bisbee Coalition for the Homeless — want to honor retired miners and supporting others down on their luck.
"Once that mariachi music starts playing, all your troubles you might be having -- for at least that day -- will melt right off you," former coalition board president John Acosta said. "That music is a touch of heaven."
For Acosta, the musical swells and melancholy lyrics are also a glue that sticks to older folks' souls, and a magnet that's drawn young mariachis to play their hearts out for their school bands.
"When you look out in the crowd, you're going to see young kids...(then) you're going to see: there's the nana (grandma) and there's a grandfather, and they're all in it together here."
Fellow coalition board member and local business owner Gretchen Bonaduce agrees with Acosta. "I have not missed one Mariachi festival,' she said. "You just see all walks of life here, and everyone is just having the best time, and dancing."
Gates to Warren Ballpark will open Sat. Nov. 2 at 9 a.m. The festival itself will go from 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Tickets for adults and kids 10 years and older are $15.
In 2015, Acosta and his partners in the coalition wanted to find an effective campaign to raise money for their programs and facilities. As the years passed by, Acosta, a miner himself with Freeport McMoRan, also saw an opportunity to celebrate two facets of Bisbee's story. One part of Saturday's party on the ballpark grass is a special reunion for old miners.
"(History) transitions, you know? It was all mining. Now, it's an artist community, but we don't want to lose the rich history behind it," Acosta said. "My father, he was an underground miner here. We're starting to lose those guys, but we want to keep that history."
Elsewhere, Annie Graeme Larkin, executive director of the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum, said her team will be at the festival, set up with an interactive mineral display with mine cars and shovels. A special first this year, is part of the ticket money made on this year's festival will also go to support the museum.
"It's important to recognize that heritage, and that we were a cross-border community," Graeme Larkin said. "We have a lot of folks who lived in Mexico, worked here, went home in the evening back in Sonora. So, I think the two really make sense together."
Another special addition, is this year, the festival is inviting American Idol contestant McKenna Breinholt to join in the musical fun. Breinholt's birth mother, Amy Lopez Ross, was a famous folk singer from Bisbee.
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