“I” Block Party Monday, Sept. 7 will benefit Centro del Pueblo

The 40th annual “I” Block Party will be held on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7 in front of Los Bagels in Arcata. Starting at noon, community members will come together to enjoy live local music, folklórico, food, mariachi and more. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Dennis Rael, founder of Los Bagels and main organizer for the “I” Block Party, came up with the idea as a way to fund a mural for his business. After its success, Rael and others decided that the party could be used to help annually fundraise for the Arcata- Camoapa Sister City Project which Rael was also involved in.

For decades, the event benefited projects in Camoapa, Nicaragua and served as a celebration of local community and culture. This last year, due to organization capacity, the Arcata-Camoapa Sister City Project made the decision to step down as main organizer, while expressing to Rael that they wanted the event to still go on as long as Los Bagels did.

“And we had a large discussion, and people felt like Centro del Pueblo was an organization that could benefit from it, and had a lot of the same ideals that we had, especially their work in the community, not in Nicaragua,” Rael said, “but especially working with immigration and a lot of other sources of the Latino community.”

This year, for the first time, the celebration is being organized and will benefit Centro del Pueblo Movimiento Indígena Migrante, also known as Centro del Pueblo, a grassroots nonprofit organization that works to support Latine and Indigenous migrant communities in Humboldt County. Centro del Pueblo provides legal and social services.

Peyton Leone is a CPH alum and has worked with Centro del Pueblo since Jan. 2025. Leone said the event is about providing the community with moments to spend with family while highlighting the ongoing and crucial work local initiatives like Centro del Pueblo engage in.

“We’re trying to uplift Latin, Latine culture up here in Humboldt County, make sure that people have a chance to watch their kids dance, perform music, enjoy food,” Leone said. “It’s a cultural celebration that we’ll be having and a fundraiser for the operation of Centro del Pueblo, so people can expect a good time.”

Brenda Pérez, executive director of Centro del Pueblo and coordinator for Cal Poly Humboldt’s El Centro Académico Cultural de Humboldt, emphasized the importance of the celebration in building relationships and uplifting community based efforts.

“This work is essential. I would say it is vital. It’s the protection of our rights and the protection of our lives at this point of this crisis that we are living in. For me, connecting on campus and off campus communities, it’s a way to strengthen that network or safety net,” Pérez said. “It is a way that I can provide what I found when I came as a migrant and as a student to Cal Poly, a family.”