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A Southwest Washington nonprofit has been left scrambling after its annual North Portland fundraiser—a Taco, Tequila & Tamale Festival—saw attendance slashed by half from its 2025 numbers due to fears of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Latino Leadership Northwest is a Vancouver-based nonprofit organization that serves Latino youth. In 2025, the group’s inaugural taco festival fundraiser brought in 3,000 people to the Portland Expo Center to enjoy food vendors, lucha libre wrestling, Latin dance, crafts and more. About 10 high school dance programs from Southwest Washington, Portland and Woodburn performed.
“The event was so successful that we ran out of food way before 6 pm, if that gives you a sense,” says Diana Avalos-Leos, LLNW’s founder and executive director.
It was a different scene at the Expo Center this Jan. 24-25. In the days leading up to the festival, negative comments appeared on the group’s social media posts advertising the Taco, Tequila & Tamale Festival. Commenters threatened to send ICE to the festival. Vendors started calling Avalos-Leos to pull out of the event at the last minute, followed by the high schools.
In the end, only one high school dance group came.
“Families said it’s too unsettling and we don’t want to put our families in danger,” Avalos-Leos says. “And I totally respected that and understood.”
The organizers had a strong safety plan in place with regional government Metro, which owns the Expo Center. No ICE agents came to the festival, but the damage was done.
Sean Guard, the festival’s director, estimates that the festival lost $15,000 but doesn’t have a final ticket count yet from the venue. Attendees paid $22 for admission on Saturday and $19 for Sunday. Renting the hall in the Expo Center alone cost the group about $10,000.
Guard and Avalos-Leos have started a GoFundMe to recoup costs. Not only was it a financial hit to LLNW, but to the independent vendors, Avalos-Leos says.
“I feel incredibly sad that a lot of these vendors are entrepreneurs who depend on attending festivals to generate revenue,” Avalos-Leos says. “Not having that return on investment was incredibly painful to see.”
Both Guard and Avalos-Leos hope to hold the Taco, Tequila & Tamale Festival again next year.
“The win is that the people who came to the festival walked away with smiles on their faces and said it was a great event,” Avalos-Leos says. “There were no incidents. So from that side, I call it a success.”
