NAPA — The Napa Valley Expo, the same site where tens of thousands watched some of the country’s best known rock and hip-hop acts a week earlier, was transformed on Saturday for Festival La Onda, celebrating Latin culture and music.

A canopy of traditional papel picado, the strung-up multicolored tissue paper squares, created a checkered shadow on the pavement. Twelve-foot-tall catrinas—artsy skeleton figurines—decorated the grounds and quickly became a popular photo-op.

Along the festival’s main drag, a crowd—many in cowboy hats along with their summer attire—formed around a 10-member mariachi band, dressed in all gray, playing everything from cumbia to lively covers of Selena, such as “Como Una Flor” and “Amor Prohibido.”

A row of decked out and waxed lowrider cars served as art installations, as did large loteria cards and even a statue of a Mexican hairless Xoloitzcuintle dog. A DJ on stage La Onda mixed snippets of songs by Selena, Bad Bunny and Rosalía. The VIP section was transformed with flags in bright hues that replaced BottleRock’s white flags.

The organizers of BottleRock, which also produced Festival La Onda to take advantage of existing infrastructure for a music festival, had clearly done their homework. Even the food and drink offerings were different, featuring regional specialities as well as agua frescas, cafés de olla and tequila at lively cantinas throughout the festival grounds. Many of the attendees (early estimates by organizers reported that attendance reached about two-thirds of BottleRock) were Latino or Hispanic. They represented numerous countries from the Americas and beyond.

Attendee Bryan Webster, 35, said his love of Latin music drew him to Festival La Onda.

“Corridos, reggaeton; I like it all,” he said.

The musicians weren’t the only colorful entertainers drawing a lot of attention. Yellow lanterns covered the roof over the La Onda Lucha Libre stage. That’s right; lucha libre, as in the wrestlers, who had matches throughout the day.

Dressed in red, white and blue, “El Fabuloso Pelon” and “Johnny Guapo,” representing the USA, emerged and danced to Van Halen’s “Jump.” One held an American flag. He must have been the bad guy, because the crowd booed. Their adversaries were clad in red, white and green; “Rockero del Diablo” and “Nuevos Gringos Locos” represented Mexico.

“La Raza Mas Chida” by El Tri played as an announcer hyped up the audience. The hair-challenged “Fabuloso Pelon” feigned that another wrestler ripped off his hair. The audience chanted “México!” and “Sí se puede!”

And, of course, there was the lineup, which included some of the biggest names in Latin music. Corridos tumbados singer Junior H, regional Mexican artist Alejandro Fernández, reggaeton singer Farruko and pop singer Danna Paola topped the bill on Saturday, along with a dozen others.

Earlier in the day, Eden Muñoz sang “A La Antigüita,” pulling attendees from elsewhere. This was one of the few times on Saturday where there wasn’t a line of brave souls trying their hand at a karaoke stage nearby. On Sunday, Mana, Fuerza Regida, Mon Laferte and others will take the stage.

Junior H

Junior H, 23, seemed to have boundless energy even late in the evening. Perhaps it was due to the thousands of festival-goers who flocked to see him perform. Lights twinkled above the stage as dusk fell. The singer appeared in a matching jacket and shorts suited for the Saturday heat.

Many of his songs were faster-paced and encouraged the audience to dance. Three songs in, he announced a tour that included shows in Sacramento and San Jose.

He sang “Las Noches,” “El Ruido De Tus Zapatos,” “Rockstar, “La Llamada de Mi Ex,” “Sobre Mis Pies” and “Y LLORO,” prompting fans between songs and oftentimes even in between verses to yell out, “Ese grito Mexicano!” It was a bit challenging to hear the singer’s vocals at times, but the Latin trap beats could be heard all the way over in the culinary garden.

Several times, Junior H teased that he was leaving. “Ya nos vamos?” [Are we going?] he asked. “This is the last one,” he promised right before he launched into a corrido tumbado. “That’s it, we’re leaving now.”

But the crowd stayed put.

When the audience wasn’t loud enough for his liking, he would pause and act like he was unsure whether to keep performing. “Siguiemos?” [Let’s continue?]

And each time fans responded affirmatively, “Sí, siguiemos!”

Farruko

“Siguiemos?” was the most asked question of the day, a trend continued by Farruko.

“Viva la raza!” he yelled shortly before an EDM breakdown, after working the crowd into a tizzy. “If you’re thankful for life, raise your hand.”

He played snippets of songs in rapid succession and asked the audience, a younger crowd, to dance and jump. Puffs of lavender smoke rose up from the stage, adding theatricality.

The performance included several songs with featured artists, such as “Calma” with Luis Fonsi and “Pa’ Romper La Discoteca” with Daddy Yankee and Yomo. None of them were there, of course, so he harmonized with backing tracks and his backing vocalists instead.

“Now it’s going to be good,” he said, before kicking into the hit “Calma.” Some fans sang along while others started dancing.

With the crowd’s eager participation and Farruko’s dancers, the missing feature didn’t detract from the performance.

Farruko smiled throughout. He stripped away layers of the chorus to where he sounded as if he was singing a capella.

“Who likes reggaeton? You’ll know this one,” he said before singing the first verse of “Pa’ Romper La Discoteca.” Pausing to judge the reaction, Farruko jumped back into the song with a punchy delivery.

Following “La Tóxica” and “PUÑAL (part. Divino)” came the uber-popular “Pepas,” inciting hordes of people to literally run toward the stage.

“It’s like a stampede,” one festival-goer said, and at that moment it seemed the festival’s biggest stage was at max capacity.

Without pausing, Farruko immediately jumped into “Pásame la Hooka.”

“If you feel proud to be Latino, raise your hands!” he yelled repeatedly as a call to action.

Danna Paola

Danna Paola, the princess of Latin pop, opened her set with “Mala Fama” and “Oye Pablo.” She looked every bit the pop star in her gold and black outfit, matched by her dancers.

“Happy Pride month!” she yelled a few songs in, wrapping a rainbow flag around herself as she sang “TQ Y Ya.” She also threw in a few cries of “viva Mexico.”

After singing “Donde Quera” and “Atari,” from her new album, Childstar, she concluded with “XT3S1S.”

Alejandro Fernández

Veteran Alejandro Fernández closed out the night. Dressed in a black traditional charro outfit and supported by a mariachi, Fernández beamed as he said he was “very happy to be here.” He began his show with “El Rey” and afterward led the audience in a Mexican cry, or “grito.”

His set included popular hits like “Estuve” and “Me Dediqué a Perderte,” as well as rancheras like “Por Tu Maldito Amor.”

“We’re going to sing the most beautiful music, which is Mexican music,” he said in Spanish.

Follow photographer Sean Liming at Instagram.com/S.Liming.