Mariana Gonzalez of Geneva was driving by a restaurant in her hometown Friday night when she saw something that made her and her husband stop in order to check things out.
“We were just going by and saw these huge statues that must be 12 feet high and we wondered what was going on,” Gonzalez said. “We wanted stop in and maybe we’ll stay for dinner. These statues are pretty amazing.”
Folks who chose to dine at a Geneva restaurant Friday night got more than just food and drinks as Altiro Latin Fusion hosted an event focusing on Mexican artist Frida Kahlo from 5 to 9 p.m. in and around the restaurant at 308 Anderson Blvd. in Geneva.
The evening featured a market with nearly a dozen vendors, live music, food stands, folk dancers, face-painting, kids’ games and more.
Owners of the restaurant have been offering Kahlo events dating back to the pandemic in order to celebrate the late female artist, who suffered from polio as a child and underwent 30 operations in her lifetime. Of the more than 140 paintings she was credited with creating, 55 were self-portraits.
Erika Villanueva and her husband Roberto Avila co-own Latin fusion restaurants in Geneva, Wheaton, Plainfield and Aurora, along with Amore Mio Italian restaurant in Aurora. Villanueva founded the Kahlo event back in 2020 at their Wheaton location where the city collaborated with the restaurant.
“That was the very first one we did and when the event ended, the city recognized us and gave us an award for bringing so many people to the community,” she said. “All of the businesses had incredible sales that day and said they hadn’t seen sales like that in 10 years.”
Altiro events continued in Aurora as well as Geneva with another planned in Plainfield where a new location has opened this year.
“This is our second year in Geneva and it was a huge success. A lot of people weren’t aware what a Frida destination was,” she said. “At previous events in Wheaton, people were asking ‘What is going on down here?’ and they were taking selfies and saying that these sculptures are amazing and asking questions about these events.”
Last year was the first-time sculptures were used at part of the Kahlo event, the product of a collaboration with Hollywood artist Ricardo Soltero, who came to Illinois and built them.
“We have 15 or 20 of them and they are placed throughout the whole area in the restaurant’s parking lot,” Villanueva said.
The restaurant in Geneva also offered a special margarita tasting that included eight different tastings for those who bought a $40 bracelet.
Cruz Heynck of Elgin did buy the bracelet and said “she was going to try all eight tastings” but admitted she might have to share with her friends.
“As far as my coming here, I found out about this on Facebook and I had a girls’ night planned already,” she said. “I’m looking forward to listening to the music and sitting down and having some tacos.”
Moses Cruz of Aurora said he was “organizing games and things for the kids” at Friday’s event.
“I do this as a volunteer thing. We’re going to play games we grew up with and have bean bag games and games where kids will write on the ground and think of something that starts with a certain letter,” he said. “Kids need to think a little bit. As far as this event here, it’s always good to have multi-cultural events that bring the community together, something like this with vendors and live music and a DJ and food and drinks and outside like this. It’s perfect.”
The drive-by “wow factor” Villanueva was looking for clearly affected Gonzalez as well as her husband Jeremy Dickinson.
“My wife and I met in Mexico when I studied abroad,” Dickinson said. “The culture is absolutely beautiful and it’s great to see it here. I’ve been to Mexico and Mexico City and actually visited Frida Kahlo’s house before so I’m familiar with it and it’s great to see it here. It’s like a little slice of Mexico.”
Katie Newcome of Geneva said she “loves Frida Kahlo and am pretty excited to be here.”
“I’m looking forward to some performances and some markets and may drop in for a quick bite,” she said. “I have some postcard prints done by Frida and I just appreciate who she is.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
