‘Farmchella’ celebrates farm working families throughout the Coachella valley

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival is known to attract music lovers from around the world.

Additionally, another festival, held Thursday was aimed at celebrating farmworkers who live and work throughout the Coachella Valley. 

These workers are said to be heartbeat of our region’s agricultural production, the second largest industry in our local economy.

Year after year, Coachella celebrates artists that reach global audiences through their music. 

In a similar tune, Farmchella is aimed at celebrating farmworkers in our very own backyard that get produce on tables across the nation. 

Flor Martinez Zaragoza is the founder and president of celebration nation one of the organizations that helped organize ‘Farmchella’ alongside Mas for More. 

"This definitely has brought attention to the farmworker community," said Martinez Zaragoza. "That honestly was the goal in the beginning because we noticed they were always overlooked."

According to reports from the Recording Academy, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival generated more than $160 million during one of their highest grossing year in 2016. 

Martinez Zaragoza hopes the festival will work to acknowledge farmworkers, many of which reside in the actual city of Coachella. 

"A lot of people when they come to the Coachella Festival, they say, 'Well, it's so hot, so dusty,' and then they fail to acknowledge that farmworkers work in these conditions all day. What are we doing for them when they're feeding all of us?' added Zaragoza.

The Second Annual Farmchella featured a variety of community resources including a health clinic staffed by local physicians like Maria Zepeda who was born in Indio and worked on the fields herself.     

She’s thankful that Farmchella helps connects farmworkers to resources offered in Spanish. 

"It feels nice because I could relate with the people that don't speak English," said Zaragoza. "You could see in their eyes that they just light up when you're talking to them. It's a blessing for this valley because we need that."

UCLA medical students and daughters of immigrant farmworkers, Erica Escalera and Denise Jimenez – were also at Farmchella offering resources on behalf of their organization ‘La Cosecha’ 

"We're teaching all of our participants how to identify the symptoms related to heat illness, the spectrum itself going from rashes all the way to stroke symptoms," said Escalera.

Along with the health clinic, Farmchella offered plenty of entertainment, along with toy and clothing giveaways and a farmers market. 

It was another successful year of Farmchella, with almost double the amount of sponsors and vendors compared to last year.