46 Annual La Fiesta de Tumacácori

NPS Photo

News Release Date: November 8, 2016

Contact: Anita Badertscher, 520-377-5063

The 46^th annual Fiesta at Tumacácori National Historical Park will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 3, and 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 4, 2016. Admission is free. La Fiesta de Tumacácori is a celebration of all the cultures which have lived in and influenced the historical Santa Cruz Valley. The two-day event will feature Native American, Mexican, and Southwest food, crafts, and performances. A multicultural Catholic Mass will be celebrated in front of the historic Tumacácori Mission church on Sunday morning, led by Bishop José Leopoldo Gonzales Gonzales, of the new Nogales Diocese in Sonora.

Dozens of local non-profit historical, cultural, environmental, and religious organizations will be selling food and hand crafted items. On the main stage, there will be all-day, continuous entertainment, featuring a variety of dance and music groups representing many cultural traditions. Visitors can enjoy demonstrations including paper flower making, rawhide braiding, tortilla-making, and O’odham basket weaving. Guidedtours of the mission will be available both days, as well as guided walks to the Santa Cruz River and tours of the park’s heritage orchard. In the hands-on “Discovery Corner,” there will be family-friendly activities including piñata breaking, adobe brick making, historical clothing, and nature based games. Visitors to the fiesta will be able to collect stamps at each activity and earn prizes. 

On Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m., a procession begins in front of the visitor center, leading through the fiesta grounds and ending in front of the mission church. The multicultural Catholic Mass begins when the procession arrives, approximately 10:30 a.m. Please note that no photos are permitted during the procession or mass, or while sacred dances are being performed. (“NO PHOTOS” signs will be posted prominently at restricted times and locations.)

Only service animals are allowed on the mission grounds or fiesta grounds. Tumacácori’s Anza Trailhead is closed to equestrian access during the fiesta. 

Tumacácori National Historical Park is located 45 miles south of Tucson and 15 miles north of Nogales. Take exit 29 off of I-19 and follow the signs. For information, call the Tumacácori visitor center, [phone]. 

A tentative stage schedule for La Fiesta de Tumacácori 2016 is as follows. Current information is available on the park’s website at www.nps.gov/tuma.

 SATURDAY, December 3, 2016

9:45         Blessing and opening of the 46^th annual Tumacácori Fiesta
10:00       Calabasas Folklórico, dancers from Calabasas Middle School in Rio Rico
11:00       Lourdes Folklórico, dancers from Lourdes Catholic High School in Nogales
12:00       Mariachi Azatlán, from Pueblo High School in Tucson
1:00         Gertie N the TO Boyz, waila music from Sells
2:00        Theodore Roosevelt Apache Crown Dancers, from Fort Apache
3:00         Agua Fría, Norteño music from Rio Rico
4:00         Pure Native Waila, from Tucson

SUNDAY, December 4, 2016

10:00       Procession, with Mass following in front of the church at approximately 10:30
10:30       Hot Club Junior, fiddlers from Tucson
11:00       Southern Arizona Old Time Fiddlers, from Tucson
12:00       Seguridad Social Baile Folklórico, dancers from Nogales, Sonora
1:00 Mariachi Alegre de Tucson
2:00        Raíz Latina, Norteño music from Rio Rico
3:00        Pablo Waila Band, from Tucson