MARIACHI FESTIVAL CELEBRATES MUSIC
Middle school and high school students from around the state performed in the first-ever Mariachi Festival in the state Friday at Skyline High School, 600 E. Mountain View Ave.
For the grand finale, the students watched the all-female, Mariachi Las Dahlias professional band perform. The Colorado High School Activities Association hosted the event — a celebration of music where about 150 students students came together from different schools.
Saint Vrain Valley School District music teachers Brian Crim and Priscilla Arasaki led the Mariachi Festival, which showcased both student and professional musicians from Colorado’s expanding mariachi scene. Crim works at Skyline High School and Arasaki works at Sunset Middle School. They were trying to organize the festival themselves, when Janay Bird, the St. Vrain Valley School District fine arts director, asked CHSAA to get involved.
“Mariachi is starting to have a more increased presence in the state of Colorado,” Arasaki said, highlighting the music’s growing presence in schools. “So when CHSAA came to us … and asked if we would be interested in incorporating a mariachi festival, we were thrilled.”
The festival deviated from the typical CHSAA competition format, adopting a structure inspired by larger mariachi events like the Viva Southwest Mariachi Conference, which is scheduled this year for April at the Auraria Campus at 855 Lawrence Way, in Denver. The structural approach appeared to foster a sense of community among the young musicians, since it prioritized collaboration over competition.
The morning session featured individual school performances, allowing each ensemble to share interpretations and covers of songs. Following the performances, students went to instrument-specific workshops, which offered deeper dives into technique and new musical pieces. The day culminated in a final concert where all students played together, solidifying their connection through their shared passion.
Arasaki said she hopes to inspire students by holding the festival. She has established mariachi programs at two schools and has been a teacher for seven years and a performer for nine.
“I hope they see that it is possible,” Arasaki said. “It’s a viable thing they could do in their future.”
Crim, seeking a professional group to headline the festival, said he naturally turned to Las Dahlias and Arasaki, who plays the violin for the women’s mariachi band.
“Priscilla … has been a really big influence on the growth of mariachi in Colorado,”
Crim said.
While school mariachi programs have traditionally been outside the Denver metro area, they’re slowly entering urban schools. The CHSAA sponsorship showed that mariachi can help celebrate student activities across the state, according to Rashaan Davis, the CHSAA assistant commissioner.
“The festival is another opportunity for (CHSAA) to show statewide that we see every student,” Davis said. “Mariachi is able to engage kids who might not have found a CHSAA activity or event in any other place.”
Both the organizers and
CHSAA hope that the inaugural event is just the start of something bigger. “I do hope that it becomes an annual event… and (I hope) it really encourages other schools to start mariachi programs,” Crim said.