Kansas City's Folklore event returns Thursday to the rooftop of Corrigan Station in the Crossroads Arts District, marking six years of a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration that has grown from a modest gathering into a sold-out night drawing hundreds of business and civic leaders, artists, young professionals and community members. This year's edition also marks a milestone: $500,000 invested in Kansas City small businesses through the event's grant program since it began.
The gathering was founded by Luis Padilla, principal and founder of Fresco Marketing, who came to Kansas City from Mexico at age 18, according to the Kansas City Star. Padilla has said he wanted an event celebrating Kansas City's Latino culture in a more modern way, and Folklore began shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic with just 80 to 100 attendees. For the past three years, attendance has held steady around 350 people, and tickets for both the 2025 and 2026 events sold out within about a week, per the same report.
How the Grant Money Works
At the center of Folklore is the Folklore Small Business Grant Program, supported by a partnership with Wells Fargo, which also provides financial education backing the program, the Star reports. The program distributes $100,000 among 10 businesses each cycle, with each recipient receiving $10,000 — organizers have opted for fewer, larger awards rather than spreading smaller amounts across more applicants. Grants are open to qualifying Kansas City small businesses and are not limited to Latino-owned companies, though the outlet notes more than 100 businesses applied last year alone.
To qualify, a business must have fewer than 15 employees, maintain a physical location, and be established, registered and in good standing. Applicants must also demonstrate plans for growth and how they intend to use the funding, according to the same account. Applications for this cycle are expected to open several weeks after Thursday's event.
Previous grant recipients have reported opening additional locations, expanding inventory and increasing sales, though Folklore does not formally track outcomes from past winners, the Star notes. Padilla has said he wants the program to eventually offer entrepreneurial education alongside financial support, and he hopes Folklore will continue offering small-business grants over the next five years.
A Wider Coalition Behind the Scenes
The grant program is structured as a four-way collaboration between Fresco Marketing, Wells Fargo, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City, and the Kansas City Hispanic Collaborative, according to Fresco Marketing. In its 2024 iteration, the grant split its ten $10,000 awards evenly, with five going to businesses in Kansas City, Missouri's Historic Northeast neighborhood and five to businesses across the state line in Kansas City, Kansas, Fresco Marketing reported.
That bi-state approach spans Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas. The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City itself has deep roots in the city, founded in 1977 by 25 local business leaders led by Hector Barreto Sr., who went on to help establish the national United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Kansas City in 1979, per the International Relations Council.
Music, Scholarships and a Civic Footprint
Beyond the grant program, Folklore supports small businesses, education, art, music and youth sports, and organizers also raise money for local scholarships, the Star reports. This year's performers include Mariachi Los Reales of Kansas City, led by Luis A. Portillo, a UMKC graduate whose primary instrument is saxophone and who began teaching mariachi to Kansas City students in 2010. The group's set will include American songs such as Jailhouse Rock and Tennessee Whiskey, and Mariachi Los Reales is working with Kansas City DJ FK Menace on a mariachi-and-DJ performance for the occasion.
Portillo has said that mariachi teaches discipline through music and connects people with culture and the past. The ensemble carries a notable local profile — it performed as a youth mariachi group at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts last August, according to Wardell & Holmes Real Estate.
Fresco Marketing has also worked with the Kansas City Royals on the team's Nos Vemos en El K campaign, launched in March 2024 to boost Major League Baseball engagement across the region's Hispanic community, according to MLB.com.
This year's event returns to Corrigan Station's rooftop. With tickets for Thursday's event already sold out, organizers are looking ahead to the next application window and, as Padilla has said, a program he hopes keeps growing for years to come.
