{"id":352385,"date":"2026-06-09T00:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T00:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/352385\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T00:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T00:50:15","slug":"boyle-heights-youth-fest-festival-centers-youth-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/352385\/","title":{"rendered":"Boyle Heights Youth Fest festival centers youth power"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

School\u2019s almost out \u2014 and summertime is just around the corner. Although the seasonal change may mean little to the average working adult, it\u2019s an optimal time for the spirited youth of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, attendees soaked up the sun at the Boyle Heights Youth Fest (a.k.a. BHY Fest), a block party filled with free live music, community booths, resources, delectable bites and chilled agua fresca \u2014 plus a special meet-and-greet session with Lone Lobos podcast<\/a> hosts and \u201cCobra Kai<\/a>\u201d stars Jacob Bertrand and Xolo Maridue\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

\"Jacob <\/p>\n

\u201cI have the utmost confidence in this next generation,\u201d said Jacob Bertrand, BHY Fest ambassador alongside Xolo Maridue\u00f1a. <\/p>\n

(Etienne Laurent \/ For De Los)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a resource, [a] job fair if you will, so that children and youth in our communities could have an opportunity to explore options for them to do in the summer,\u201d said Angie Jimenez. She works with the \u200aBoyle Heights Arts Conservatory, the lead organizers of the BHY Fest.<\/p>\n

The annual celebration was established by El Centro de Ayuda<\/a> over 20 years ago as a way to curb gang violence in the 1990s. BHY Fest was briefly paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, though by 2021 it has steadily built momentum once again that even \u201cReal Women Have Curves\u201d writer Josefina Lopez made a covert appearance.<\/p>\n

But perhaps the most meaningful element of the BHY Fest is that the event is organized by youth for youth. As the media fixates on the digital natives known as Gen Z and Gen Alpha \u2014 often dismissing them as antisocial and entitled <\/a>members of society \u2014 Saturday\u2019s celebration showed that younger generations might actually have it all under control.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe perception of today\u2019s youth is that they don\u2019t care, they\u2019re lazy, they\u2019re careless,\u201d said Jimenez. \u201cNot these kids. They\u2019re on it. We love that they\u2019re so engaged with the community. They know what they did today.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a walkie-talkie in hand, lead coordinator Adrian Salinas was hard to get a hold of. The 23-year-old UCLA graduate speedily walked up and down 1st Street to ensure there was enough dry ice in the coolers to keep the chamoy popsicles from melting \u2014 though, under the beaming sun, it was to no avail.<\/p>\n

\"Adrian <\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with the Boyle Heights Youth Festival has changed the narrative. It ensures that youth voices are heard and most importantly, having fun,\u201d said Adrian Salinas, lead coordinator of the Boyle Heights Youth Fest. <\/p>\n

(Etienne Laurent \/ For De Los)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still a lot of youth out in the world who care about the community. For example, we have a green space, a spot allocated for community orgs who are focused on sustainability, focused on environmental education,\u201d said Salinas. \u201cIt shows that yes, we still care about the environment and sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the rock climbing wall, 14-year-old attendee Noah Luna waited in line for the second time of the day. He briefly returned back to his home in East L.A. to leave the free tree he got at the City Plants booth, a program funded by the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power that gives free trees to the community. He told The Times that there are misconceptions about young people just being on their phones.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I see, that\u2019s not true,\u201d said Luna. \u201cWhen I go out, I see a lot of people, a lot of artists out there. There\u2019s people at the park.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although there were some electronic exceptions as the day cooled down.<\/p>\n

Various teens and tweens alike held up their phones to record performances in the main stage \u2014 including the modern moves by Majorettes, a dance club out of the Ram\u00f3n C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts. Although 17-year-old dance captains Julian Dioulo and Meylay Archila said they were workshopping a new name: Pretty Pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to show other little kids or people that are scared to do this that it\u2019s OK to go out there and be yourself,\u201d said Archila.<\/p>\n

The confidence was already rubbing off. Backstage, a handful of high-spirited elementary-age girls \u2014 known as Vista Horizon, a K-pop quintet from K-town \u2014 waved to them in awe and offered their congratulations.<\/p>\n

\"K-pop <\/p>\n

\u201cI was always shy, but now I\u2019m more confident,\u201d said Evelyn Rojas, who was part of the K-pop group from Vista Horizon Global Academy.<\/p>\n

(Etienne Laurent \/ For De Los)<\/p>\n

When asked what the krumping duo love most about being young, they couldn\u2019t help but point out the obvious physical differences.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aI think the simplest answer is not being able to break my bones yet,\u201d said Dioulo. \u201c\u200aI\u2019m just kidding!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aYou\u2019re only young once,\u201d Archila added. \u201c\u200aYou can\u2019t always move like this all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Band <\/p>\n

\u201cI discovered pop-punk through my passion of skating and the \u201890s culture,\u201d said 16-year-old Senolavie guitarist Ian Abarca. \u201cI love the fast-paced drumming and the whiny vocals, screaming. I think it\u2019s just really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Etienne Laurent \/ For De Los)<\/p>\n

Senolavie, a local pop-punk group, drove in the early hours from Lancaster to deliver a much-needed head-banging session. Between the silly fart noises blurted on the mic, the trio played all the classic Blink-182 hits \u2014 among them \u201cJosie,\u201d \u201cAll the Small Things\u201d \u2014 showing their peers and elders alike that rock is still alive and kicking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re playing music from an era before we were born,\u201d said 16-year-old guitarist Ian Abarca. \u201cWith our music, we can sort of communicate with others from that era.\u201d<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth \u2014 at least for this Saturday afternoon \u2014 the kids seem to be doing just fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"School\u2019s almost out \u2014 and summertime is just around the corner. Although the seasonal change may mean little…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[51165,143983,143982,217,143985,48,52,51,47,50,49,63,1741,143984,22401,595,143981,1673,2335,7163,143986],"class_list":["post-352385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-annual-celebration","tag-bhy-fest","tag-community-booth","tag-day","tag-free-tree","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-lot","tag-meylay-archila","tag-resource","tag-saturday","tag-spirited-youth","tag-sustainability","tag-today","tag-young-people","tag-youth-power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}