Grocery store showcases local Latin artists in online music series
KYW
By Marcella Baietto
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WILMINGTON, Delaware (KYW) — In the produce section under piñatas and by the tortillas, a live show for shoppers is becoming a regular occurrence inside Fiesta Fresh Farmers Market in New Castle, Delaware.
“The idea is to highlight independent artists from the area,” store co-owner José Luis Aguilar Garcia said. “Because it’s getting more attention online, people are excited. They’ll ask when we’re doing the next one.”
The concept was inspired by NPR’s famous “Tiny Desk Concerts.”
At the supermarket on DuPont Highway, their version is called “Mercadito Concerts,” or market concerts.
“It was hard trying to find a place that reminds you of home, being so far from Mexico here,” Aguilar Garcia said. “We’re trying to obviously have people feel comfortable who are not from Mexico and expose them to a bit of our culture.”
Aguilar Garcia co-owns the store with his sister, who runs most of the day-to-day operations, while he also works at a Latin record label he started in 2019 that’s based in Wilmington.
Aguilar Garcia and his family are from Puebla, Mexico, and have been in the area since 2006.
Many of the musicians who record sessions at the market work with his label, like the band Ilusión.
“I feel like it’s a very vibrant atmosphere and it makes me really happy to take part in such an exciting performance, a cultural performance,” Ilusión bassist Carlos Mayo-Jiménez said. “And to be representing my roots too.”
The band was started in 2023 and also includes singer and songwriter 21-year-old Jesús Beltran Méndez, who moved to the U.S. at the age of 10.
For artists like Beltran Méndez, the recordings are more than just a soundtrack for customers or a viral clip.
“It gives us a platform to portray who we really are,” Beltran Méndez said. “There’s a lot of misconceptions about who we are. There are bad people. There are good people. We are just human.”
“Never be afraid to represent who you are and who you always will be,” Mayo-Jiménez said. “Remind yourself that you’re coming from a different area that the general majority aren’t maybe used to, maybe not accustomed to, but it’s a special background nonetheless.”
As for what’s next, the store is prepping for a live music event called The Meltdown that will feature two bands on March 20 from 6 to 7 p.m. at the supermarket.
The recorded sessions are open to any artists of all genres as the series continues to grow, turning a grocery run into a front row ticket to a cultural show.
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