Festival Chapín Los Angeles: The 10th Annual Edition Was August 29-30, 2026 at Lafayette Park

Festival Chapín L.A. held its 2026 edition on August 29 and 30, 2026, at Lafayette Park in Los Angeles. It is free, no reservation is required, and it is run by a California nonprofit whose stated mission is to supply teaching materials, furniture and equipment to schools in Guatemala. The dates, admission and organizer details come from the organizer’s own site, festivalchapin.com, read on September 4, 2026. The hours, venue, parking, theme and edition number come from local press coverage, named where used and read on September 25, 2026.

The 2026 edition

The dates appear in three places on the site: a countdown on the homepage reading 29 agosto 2026 and 30 agosto, the homepage line “Del 29 al 30 de agosto, descubre la belleza y celebra la diversidad de la cultura guatemalteca”, and the contact page’s “al Festival Chapín que llevaremos a cabo el próximo 29 y 30 de agosto”.

Who runs it, and where the money goes

This is the part that makes Festival Chapín different from a promoter’s concert. The organizer’s information page describes Chapín Summer Festival Inc. as “una organización sin fines de lucro, registrada en el Estado de California, cuya misión es proporcionar material didáctico, mobiliario y equipo a instituciones educativas en Guatemala; así como, promover el Arte y la Cultura en el extranjero.”

In plain English: a California-registered nonprofit that buys teaching materials, furniture and equipment for schools in Guatemala, and promotes Guatemalan art and culture abroad. The site says participation “ayudará a la promoción de la educación, la salud y el bienestar de los niños necesitados en Guatemala.”

The site names its Los Angeles team — Walter A. Rosales, president, and Jorge M. Marroquín and Ernesto Castellanos, directors — and lists a separate contact team based in Guatemala. General enquiries go to info@festivalchapin.com.

What actually happens there

By the organizer’s own description, the festival is built around three things:

• Culinary demonstrations — the site describes a dozen kiosks (una docena de kioscos) where traditional Guatemalan dishes are cooked in front of visitors, with “los principales ingredientes y un sabor inolvidable del País de la Eterna Primavera”.
• An artisan market — authentic Guatemalan crafts, accessories, home decor and Guatemalan products.
• Marimba and live music — the homepage’s invitation is to “COMPARTE con Tu Familia, la ALEGRÍA y los RECUERDOS de Nuestra LINDA GUATEMALA al Ritmo de la MARIMBA”, and the information page describes a weekend of marimba plus accompanying musical groups.

The site frames it explicitly as a reunion event rather than a concert: a place where “miles de guatemaltecos, quienes encuentran un pedacito de su terruño querido”, and where Mexican and Central American neighbours come to discover Guatemalan folklore. It also runs a vendor and sponsor programme, with downloadable contracts and applications on the site.

What the 2026 edition added, per the press

Calonews previewed the 2026 program before the festival. By its account:

• Two stages, with the festival’s official marimba and a lineup of local and international singers, comedians and musical groups.
• Small businesses sponsored by Guatemala’s Ministry of Economy, which Calonews said was a first for the festival.
• La Casa Guatemala, set up with the Guatemalan Olympic Committee ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, with an appearance by Guatemalan Olympic medalists and by boxer Lester Martínez.

The Daily News, covering the opening day, reported that Radio Viejo, the pop singer Mari and traditional marimba bands were scheduled to perform. It also wrote that the festival is “the largest Guatemalan festival outside of the Central American country according to the event’s organizers”. That is the organizers’ own claim, as the paper attributes it.

Getting there

Local press names the venue: the Daily News reported the 2026 festival in Lafayette Park, and Calonews described it as spanning a seven-block stretch around the park, with parking at 720 N. Heliotrope, Los Angeles, Lot #3.

The organizer’s own site never prints a venue name in its text. Its contact page embeds a map pointing to 625 S. La Fayette Park Place, Los Angeles, 90057, and its downloadable brochure PDF (brochure-festival-chapin-la-2025.pdf) prints “625 S. LAFAYETTE PARK PLACE LOS ANGELES CA 90057”. It publishes no parking, transit or gate information. For a future edition, confirm the location and parking with the organizer before travelling; the parking lot above is the one reported for 2026.

2025: postponed to October, not cancelled

The 2025 edition, the ninth, did not happen on its planned dates. In a notice dated July 10, 2025 and signed by Chapin Summer Festival, Inc., the organizer moved it from August 30-31, 2025 to Saturday October 11 and Sunday October 12, 2025, “en el mismo lugar y horario previamente anunciado”. The notice gives the reason as the activity of immigration authorities in the county and surrounding counties.

The festival then went ahead. The Los Angeles Times reported on it from Lafayette Park that October weekend, with a photo dated Saturday, October 11, 2025, and wrote that it “returned for its ninth edition”. According to the Times, the 2025 theme was Chichicastenango, and immigration attorneys offered 15-minute consultations in tents at the festival.

One correction to the record: the Daily News wrote in 2026 that the festival had “been cancelled last year”, and Soy Migrante reported on August 30, 2025 that the traditional Feria Chapina in Los Angeles “fue cancelada por decisión de los organizadores” (was cancelled by the organizers). The organizer’s notice and the Los Angeles Times report both show it was postponed and held in October 2025.

The 2027 date is not announced

As of September 25, 2026, festivalchapin.com publishes no date for a 2027 edition; its footer still reads “Festival Chapín 2026”. The organizer’s site does not number its editions, and its photo gallery (read September 4) runs from 2017 through 2022. The press does number them: the Daily News and Calonews both call 2026 the 10th annual festival, and the Los Angeles Times called 2025 the ninth edition.

For the 2026 edition, the organizer announced its dates through a countdown on its homepage, so that is the first place to check for 2027.

Not the Oklahoma Festival Chapín

There are two different Guatemalan festivals in the United States using the name Festival Chapín, and they are unrelated:

Both read 4 Sep 2026. If you searched “Festival Chapín” and landed on a September date, you were probably looking at Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma festival has had its own interruption. Soy Migrante reported on August 30, 2025 that the Comité Guatemalteco de Oklahoma cancelled its 2025 edition, quoting the committee’s statement: “No podemos, bajo ninguna circunstancia, arriesgarnos a poner a nuestra gente en una situación de vulnerabilidad”. The Guatemalan entertainment site El Hit Guate reported in June 2026 that Oklahoma would hold a festival on September 12, matching the Eventbrite date above. A New York festival with a similar name, Chapines Fest, is a third, separate event.

Which Los Angeles Guatemalan fair is which

Searches for a “feria chapina” or “Guatemalan fair” in Los Angeles mix up several different events. This is what each one’s source says:

The Government of Guatemala’s press office says the Feria Cultural Chapina is organized by Guatemalans who live in the city, and that the consul general of Guatemala in Los Angeles took part in the 2026 edition. For the Feria Independencia, the Los Angeles Times en Español reported the first edition, on September 14-15, 2024, as a Banrural-sponsored fair with vendors set up in the stadium’s parking lot and a closing Municipal vs. Comunicaciones match. The Los Angeles Coliseum’s event page for the September 13-14, 2025 edition reads “Unfortunately this event has been cancelled.”

Related guides

• Guatemalan events in the USA (Sep-Oct 2026) — the full verified table, all fourteen events
• Festival Guatemala 2026, Providence — the recurring East Coast festival, moved by its organizer to Sunday October 4, 2026 at Dexter Park
• Guatemala County Fair — the Guatemala-only fair, next edition from November 14, 2026 in Pico Rivera
• Dodgers Guatemalan Heritage Night — the Dodger Stadium ticket package, July 30, 2026
• Chapines Fest New York — the Brooklyn festival, fifth edition July 26, 2026
• Guatemala Independence Day 2026 — the September 15 holiday itself
• Guatemalan diaspora services from the USA — passports, DPI, voting and consular paperwork