SANTA ROSA (California) PRESS-DEMOCRAT

November 6, 2006

Having fun, doing business

By KATY HILLENMEYER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

The End of Harvest Fiesta has celebrated farmworkers' contributions to the North Bay's economy and culture for 26 years.

But more than 450 Mexican workers who lined up for hours during Sunday's fiesta to get ID cards and passports from their native country also earn their livings in construction, housekeeping, at Latino markets and in other nonagricultural jobs.

With an 11 a.m. appointment and a red folder of vital papers in hand, Santa Rosa painter Miguel waited two hours with his family at the Finley Community Center, where applicants seeking to obtain or renew their "matricula consular" identification cards began filing in at 7 a.m.

More than 1,000 people came to the fiesta, a nexus of fun and serious business, where immigration counselors gave legal advice while volunteers in the booth next door painted children's faces.

Hundreds flocked to the fiesta to take advantage of a mobile service provided by San Francisco's Mexican Consul General and his staff. They helped undocumented and documented workers process their passports and matricula cards, which let them open bank accounts, board airplanes and cash payroll checks.

The consulate fans out to other area hubs for Latino workers, including Calistoga on Nov. 18, to help migrant laborers and others whose jobs preclude them from travel to the city.

"It saves skipping work, especially now with all of them working Saturdays," said consul general Alfonso de Maria y Campos, Mexico's top diplomat in 13 Northern California counties.

The main organizer of the fiesta is the California Human Development Corp., which last year moved the event to Finley Park from Cloverdale's Citrus Fair.

CHDC, a human services nonprofit that helps workers receive job training, medical care, housing and other basics, was among dozens of clinics, real estate agencies, financial businesses and other local institutions touting their services to festivalgoers Sunday.

"Sonoma County is riddled with nonprofit agencies, and they're all trying to reach this population of folks," said Sylvie Vatinelle, a local community services manager with CHDC. "We're a conduit."

While vendors served up tamales, posole and tortillas, children crowded around a clown as he shaped balloon animals or awaited rides on a trackless train that whistled past the Finley Park playground.

In keeping with the fiesta's agricultural roots, organizers honored Sonoma winemaker Reynaldo Robledo as "el campesiño del año," farmworker of the year.

The founder of Robledo Family Winery came to Wine Country for work in 1968, the eldest of 13 children in a Michoacan clan who wanted to help his father support them.

After learning the trade at Sonoma County vineyards, he produced the first wine under his own label in 1997 and now employs his nine children in the business.

"I'm very emotional right now and very proud," Robledo said. "I'm sure there are people more worthy of this recognition."