Photo by blahmni

Fiesta D.C., the city’s long-running Latino parade and street festival, is leaving its most recent home in Mt. Pleasant and opting instead for a stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue for its September 23 celebrations. The festival’s organizers had been struggling to find a new location since late last year, when they agreed that the festivities had outgrown Mt. Pleasant.

An extended back-and-forth between D.C. officials and festival organizers started last October, when the organizers proposed leaving Mt. Pleasant and instead using a segment of 14th Street NW between Meridian Place and Randolph Street. That option was rejected due to emergency concerns; another proposed option of using 16th Street NW from Spring Road to Columbia Road was similarly shot down.

Late last week, D.C. Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Paul Quander proposed three final locations: Arkansas Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets NW, Georgia Avenue between Harvard Street and Barry Place, or the grounds and athletic fields behind the old headquarters of the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation between 16th Street and Hiatt Place. (Hiatt Place connects Irving Street to Park Road and serves as an access point to the DCUSA parking lot.)

Festival organizers rejected all three, saying that they worried that using any of the three would limit how many people could attend—they estimate that some 90,000 walked through Mt. Pleasant last year—and that they would force the parade and street festival to split up.

Ultimately, organizers faced a difficult choice: have a smaller parade and festival or move to Pennsylvania Avenue, which while large enough to accommodate expected crowds would push the celebrations away from the city’s historically Latino neighborhoods. After a spirited discussion yesterday evening, the Fiesta D.C. board agreed that Pennsylvania Avenue would be the best option, but that they would push to return to the Mt. Pleasant area in 2013.

D.C. officials—who had also proposed Pennsylvania Avenue as a possible location—confirmed that it could be used for the festival on September 23. The parade and festival will take place between Ninth and 14th Streets NW, and city officials have pledged to facilitate permits.

This isn’t the first time that Fiesta D.C.—now in its 41st year—has moved. After a stint at Kalorama Park, it moved to Columbia Road and eventually eastward towards Mt. Pleasant. In the mid-1990s, it moved to Pennsylvania Avenue and the grounds of the Washington Monument, but after a brief hiatus returned to the city’s Latino neighborhoods. Last year, Mt. Pleasant residents complained that it caused traffic backups and excessive trash.

Organizers say that Fiesta D.C. is one of the largest parades and festivals of its type, second only to the Chinese New Year celebrations. Earlier this year the Caribbean Parade and Festival moved from Georgia Avenue to Baltimore after a dispute with the city over outstanding debts.