Read this article in English.”Hillside” denotes “family.” The Pan Am Hillside Summer Concert Series maintains Mexican American history while creating a community environment.
Editor’s note: Emily DeMotte first published this artwork on July 22, 2025, and Anirudh Karunakaran translated it into Spanish.
Rarely does the Centro Recreativo y Parque Vecinal Oswaldo A.B. Cant Pan American remain silent, from extracurricular sports to recreation programs. However, every July night, Ladera Cobra lives with a rich tradition of multigenerational culture and community in the coastal region of Austin.
The 67th annual edition of the Verano Pan Am Hillside Concert Series opens on July 8th and serves as a simb lica, long-term exhibition honoring the music and culture of the Mexican, Mexican American, Chicana, and Latina communities in the southeast Austin area. This family and neighborhood tradition, in partnership with the Centro Cultural Mexicoamericano Emma S. Barrientos, provides free concerts with local musicians, community resources, food trucks, and artistic activities for children.
As the oldest free concert series still in operation in Austin, the event gains extra significance due to its location, according to Olivia Tamzarian, the cultural center’s mercadotecnia representative. The recreation center in Austin has been providing services and activities since 1942, and the series began in 1958 with the opening of the Hillside Theater. In 1978, Ra l Valdez, an artist from the East of Austin, added murals that depict Mexican American history in a setting.
According to Tamzarian, this is what makes it so unique: the story and the hyperlocal automobile character. (Y) the fact that people can go around the park and experience something centered around Austin’s east. This is what makes it different.
Many others recall the recreation center and summer concerts as the setting of their childhood, such as Mary Alice Andrada-Trello, a resident of the east side of Austin who claimed to have helped at Hillside since she was in her 60s. Over time, I became the vice president of the Junta Consultiva Comunitaria del Centro Recreativo, a volunteer organization that helps with event planning.
“It’s amazing to see the community continuing to support one another after another,” Andrada said.Trello. Ves a todos avec quienes creciste, trayendo ahora a sus nietecitos, perusing the occasion, and doing it well.
Assisting continues to be a family tradition for Jessica Victoria, a seventh-generation Australian who grew up listening to Hillside music from the comfort of her home to just a few cuadras from the park. They now live in the same neighborhood, where they also grow and pass the veranos in Hillside, with their two children, Apollo, who is 13 years old, and Aurelio, who is 2.
“Hillside means family,” Victoria said. No matter how long you’ve been away from the East Side, this is a place where you can always go back and continue where you left off.
Despite its role as a neighborhood gathering place, the series aims to preserve the rich cultural heritage of the Mexican American community in the east part of Austin, or the neighborhood, in the face of the area’s growing gentrification process.
This initiative is very close to the heart, according to Anna Maciel, the former president of the Junta Consultiva Comunitaria, whose family history in Austin dates back to 107 a.m. The last residence on Sixth Street is the one where Maciel and his sixteen brothers and sisters now reside. Hermana Tom made the difficult decision to put her up for sale recently.
“The community in the barrio to the east of Austin means a lot to me because that’s where we all grew up,” Maciel said. We cannot allow the community to lose this treasure.
The concert series will continue until August 5th, under the direction of state ex-senador Gonzalo Barrientos, and will feature a variety of programming, including the beloved Tejano series and novel, Rub & Ramos & The Mexican Revolution, on July 29th.
“They have amazing memories from before to now,” Andrada said.Trello. It seems like each one is better.
