The Duwamish River Festival has been a source of joy for Magdalena Angel-Cano since the 27-year-old was a kid growing up in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood.
Food, music, dancing, learning and a celebration of the city’s only river, which environmental advocates have worked to restore after severe pollution.
But the festival won’t take place this August as planned because Angel-Cano and other organizers have canceled the annual event due to concerns about immigration enforcement operations under President Donald Trump.
It’s an example of the broad impacts that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions are having on communities in Seattle and beyond.
The Duwamish River Community Coalition, which hosts the festival in South Park, announced the cancellation last week. South Park sits by the river and is home to many Latino residents and immigrants.
“My biggest concern was exposing our community members that could be affected by ICE to any danger or safety issues,” said Angel-Cano, a community engagement and communications specialist at the coalition who was raised in South Park by immigrant parents from Mexico.
“Not even just immigrants,” she added in an interview Friday. “I’m a citizen and have fear just because of the color of my skin and how I look.”
The Duwamish River was designated a contaminated Superfund in 2001. Five years later, the coalition created the Duwamish River Festival to connect local residents with efforts to clean up the industrialized waterway and surrounding area. The event usually includes performances, free food, kids activities, local business vendors, raffles and environmental education.
“You always hear a lot of music,” including in Spanish, Angel-Cano said. “We have bands that come … We’ve always incorporated Zumba.”
This year’s festival, scheduled for Aug. 9 at Duwamish River People’s Park, was going to feature tacos and kayaking. But organizers started to rethink the plan when they knocked on doors to notify neighbors about the festival, as required to obtain a special events permit from the city, Angel-Cano said.
Many residents didn’t open their doors. Some expressed fear about immigration enforcement officers possibly targeting the festival, and some hesitated to sign a city document acknowledging they were notified.
“It’s usually never a problem, but this year we got a little pushback,” Angel-Cano said, attributing that to anxieties over the raids ICE has been carrying out in heavily Latino communities, including in cities like Los Angeles.
Roberto Salazar, who works with local businesses through the Only in South Park economic development initiative, said he’s never seen Latino community members so alarmed in South Park and across the city.
After weighing the pros and cons, organizers chose to act cautiously and cancel the festival. The Duwamish River Community Coalition will instead bring residents to the river in smaller groups and likely host a more private event to provide local immigrants with resources, Angel-Cano said.
“While this cancellation is heartbreaking, the safety and well-being of our neighbors must always come first,” the coalition said in a social media post announcing the difficult step. “We look forward to the day we can come together again in celebration, solidarity and strength.”
Several people praised the move on social media, describing the cancellation as sad but wise. Crystal Brown, the executive director of a neighborhood nonprofit called Cultivate South Park, had a similar reaction.
Although she loves taking part in the Duwamish River Festival, Brown has seen “jarring headlines” about recent ICE actions and news stories “changing by the day,” so she understands and supports this year’s approach.
“When I first saw the announcement, I was kind of sick to my stomach,” she said. “To me, it just comes down to human beings feeling unsafe and worried and scared. Friends are feeling that way. Families are feeling that way.”
