A celebration of Latin culture, music, dance, food, and art is set to take over the Maple Neighborhood Center in South Sacramento this Saturday, with organizers hoping to draw both longtime residents and newcomers curious about the community around them. Festival Del Sol starts at noon on September 19 and carries a $10 admission charge, with tickets available through Calidanza Dance Company's website.
The event is put on by Calidanza Dance Company, whose dancers gave a preview performance ahead of the festival, as reported by KCRA. Calidanza Artistic Director Steven Valencia said the festival features a large lineup of cultural dancers performing multi-Latino dances, and that the goal is to connect with people who want to learn more about their community. Valencia told the station it's important to share who Latino people are, what they have learned, and what they have gone through, adding that there aren't many festivals in the region that celebrate Latino culture.
A Nonprofit Built on Folk Dance
Calidanza Dance Company was founded in March 2013 by Valencia as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to Mexican folk and contemporary dance education and performances, according to the organization's own account of its history at Calidanza Dance Company. The group describes itself as the only Mexican folk dance organization in California that provides paid performance opportunities to its professional ensemble members, a distinction that sets it apart in a field where folk dance performers often work as volunteers. Festival Del Sol's 2026 edition is scheduled for September and celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month.
That growth has coincided with a financial expansion for the organization. Nonprofit filings compiled by Cause IQ show Calidanza generated $316,125 in total revenue in fiscal year 2025, a 70.6% jump from $185,250 the year before, driven largely by grant contributions.
A Former School Turned Community Hub
The venue itself carries its own history. Maple Neighborhood Center was formerly Maple Elementary School until the Sacramento City Unified School District closed it in 2013. La Familia operates at the site, and the school district approved its sale in February, with escrow closing in April, according to the district's own announcement.
Beyond hosting the festival, La Familia runs an array of free programs at the site, including youth mental health services and suicide prevention workshops. The campus also supports other community activities.
Timing Meets a Growing Population
Festival Del Sol's September timing ties the South Sacramento event to broader regional cultural programming, per SacramentoHelp.info. Sacramento County is part of the broader regional context for the event.
Hoodline has previously covered efforts tied to the same venue and the wider funding landscape for Latino cultural organizations in the region, including a digital divide tech kit rollout that included La Familia among its recipients, and coverage of funding pressures facing Sacramento's Latino Center of Art and Culture. Those threads underscore a recurring theme in South Sacramento: local nonprofits balancing cultural programming with the ongoing challenge of securing stable public and private funding.
