Aquarium of Pacific Hosts 19th Annual Baja Splash Cultural Festival

AOP PHOTO from a previous Baja Splash festival: Danza Azteca Cultural Ketzaliztli

The Aquarium of the Pacific invites you to celebrate the beauty and diversity of cultures and wildlife from Central and South America and beyond in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month through its annual Baja Splash festival. For the first time in its 19-year history, the aquarium’s Baja Splash Cultural Festival will be held as a virtual event and will be free to everyone.

This year’s festival honoree is TreePeople CEO Cindy Montañez. The public is invited to watch the award ceremony online, in which the aquarium will present its Heritage Award to Montañez for her commitment to environmental justice and climate resilience. The Baja Splash Festival will also include animal appearances, traditional music and dance, education programs, crafts and other programming. The Baja Splash kickoff event will take place on Friday, Sept. 25, from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and the Baja Splash Cultural Festival takes places on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Latin American folk dancers, Aztec dancers, a musician and others will share traditional songs and dances from their countries on the Saturday of the virtual festival. This includes an interactive music program with Martin Espino called Sounds of Central and South America. You can also enjoy Animal Meet-and-Greets with a South American penguin, Bolivian bird, frogs, tortoise and snake and see marine life through the Aquarium’s live webcams. You can tune into the festival award ceremony at 3:15 p.m. to hear from Montañez

During the Baja Splash Kickoff on Friday, Sept. 25, younger children can join an aquarium educator at 9 a.m. to count in Spanish. This class called Contando en el Mar (Counting in the Ocean) is part of the aquarium’s Online Academy and will highlight Baja animals in celebration of the festival. At 10 a.m. join an aquarium educator for a bilingual class (English/Spanish) where you will learn how to make a crab hat you can wear at home during the festival. Starting at 11 a.m. and then available on demand, learn how to make a water drum and other traditional musical instruments from household items with Martin Espino to be ready to play along with him during Saturday’s festivities.

To enjoy the Baja Splash Kickoff and Festival, you can visit the aquarium’s website at pacific.to/bajasplash.

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Aquarium of the Pacific

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