Gracias to the amazingly talented Mariachi Ocote group of Evergreen High School in White Center, which this week gave the community a free performance on Cinco de Mayo!

The mariachi group – which performed with professional mariachi and folklorico groups – was one of the efforts that White Center voted to direct public funding toward via the Department of Local Services’ Participatory Budgeting program. The funding supports mariachi programs at both Evergreen High and Cascade Middle School.

The community centered funding allowed Mariachi Ocote to buy beautiful sombreros, boots, and guitarrons. Using that as a foundation, the high school program competed in its first state mariachi competition last week. It will perform later this month at the Highline Performing Arts Center.

Participatory Budgeting has helped White Center become a center for mariachi education in the greater Puget Sound area. in June will host a regional mariachi festival so programs and clubs across the region can collaborate and learn from professional musicians.

Here’s a sample of this week’s performance: