From recreation programs to after-school sports, the Oswaldo A.B. Cantu Pan American Recreation Center and Neighborhood Park rarely goes quiet. But every Tuesday evening in July, the hillside springs to life with a rich tradition of multi-generational culture and community in the changing landscape of East Austin.
The park’s 67th annual
Pan Am Summer Hillside Concert Series
kicked off on July 8, serving as a long-standing symbolic showcase of music and culture for East Austin’s Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano and Latino communities. In collaboration with the
Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center
, the family neighborhood tradition provides free musical performances by local musicians, community resources, local food trucks and children’s art activities.
As the longest-running free concert series in Austin, the event draws significant meaning from its location, said Olivia Tamzarian, the cultural center’s marketing representative. With the recreation center providing services and activities to East Austin since 1942, the series began after the Hillside Theater opened in 1958. East Austin artist Raul Valdez added murals depicting Mexican American history to the stage in 1978.
“That’s what makes it so special, the history and the hyper-local nature,” Tamzarian said. “(And) the fact that (people) can walk to the park and then experience something that’s East Austin focused. That’s what makes it different.”
Many recall the recreation center and summer concerts as the landscape of their childhoods, like East Austinite Mary Alice Andrada-Trello, who said she has attended Hillside since the 1960s. She eventually became vice president of the MACC’s Community Advisory Board, a group of volunteers who help organize its events.
“It’s awesome to see the community continue coming for many, many years,” Andrada-Trello said. “You get to see everyone you grew up with, with their little grandkids coming down, seeing the event and having a good time.”
For sixth-generation Austinite Jessica Victoria, who grew up hearing the Hillside music from her home just a few blocks from the park, attending remains a family tradition. She now raises her two sons, 13-year-old Apollo and 2-year-old Aurelio, in that same neighborhood, where they will also grow up spending summers at the Hillside.
“Hillside means family,” Victoria said. “No matter how long you’ve been away from the East side, this is a place that you can always come to … and pick up where you left off.”
But beyond its role as a neighborhood gathering space, the series seeks to preserve the rich cultural history of East Austin’s Mexican American community, or “el barrio,” against increasing gentrification in the area.
Former Community Advisory Board President Anna Maciel, whose family’s East Austin heritage dates back 107 years, holds this initiative close to her heart. The home where Maciel and her 16 siblings grew up now stands as the last remaining home on Sixth Street, she said. Recently, her sister made the difficult decision to put it on the market.
“(The) East Austin community, the barrio, means a lot to me, because this is where we all grew up,” Maciel said. “We can’t see the community lose this treasure.”
The concert series will continue through Aug. 5, emceed by retired state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, featuring a diverse lineup, including series favorite and Tejano legend Ruben Ramos & The Mexican Revolution on July 29.
“It’s great memories from back then to now,” Andrada-Tello said. “It seems like every year it gets better.”
