Salsa y Salsa fills downtown with music

The Legislative Plaza on Carson Street was brimming Sunday with scores of people at the sixth annual Salsa Y Salsas! Festival.

People wandered through the tree-lined plaza taking in the booths offering everything from traditional foods to jewelry and music.

The spirit was that of a mercado, a market where one can find just about anything in the hustle and bustle under one roof.

Last year's event, scheduled for two days, was canceled in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

This year's festival, fortunately, had no such ominous preface but a tribute to the heroes of Sept.11 was offered by Mayor Ray Masayko, Fire Chief Lou Buckley and Carson City Deputy Rebecca Zuniga-Brown.

Nevada Hispanic Services organized the Salsa y Salsas Festival, which featured competitions in salsa dancing and making salsas. NHS is a nonprofit community outreach agency to inform and refer the Hispanic community to existing social services agencies, and assist the Hispanic community with interpretation services, and to promote and develop youth leadership.

The festival falls in September in commemoration of several Latin American countries celebrating their independence days this month.

Live and recorded entertainment filled the air throughout the day.

The Carson City dance group "Energia Latina" performed on stage as did mariachi band "Lety La Voz Nevada y Los Casadores de Nevada" and Carson City's own Rosella Nu-ez performed two songs. There was also a performance by the Tahoe Dance Family -- a diverse group of salsa and Latin dancers from countries such as Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Romania. This was the troupe's first appearance at the event.