Sara Mijares moved to Los Angeles from Yucatan, Mexico when she was 15 years old. She had left her home behind but not her culture.
Thousands of miles away from her hometown of Muna, she’s preserving the Maya culture she grew up with for the indigenous community in Los Angeles.
Sunday will mark the 8th annual Mundo Maya Day at MacArthur Park. The celebration returns for the first time since the summer of 2024 after planners postponed the event for a year due to immigration enforcement concerns.
The event will celebrate Maya culture and indigeneity through a Maya ceremony, a game of Maya ball, food, and marimba. The event will also feature dances from Chiapas, Yucatan, and Guatemala. The event will go from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. and will include a backpack giveaway.
“MacArthur Park is the heart of the Maya immigrant community,” said Mijares. “When we come here, we don’t leave our culture behind. It comes with us.”
The area has seen more activity this summer with World Cup watch parties and the summer concert series hosted by MAC LA, formerly known as Levitt Pavilion.
She remembers going to MacArthur Park as a child with her father and seeing groups of Maya Yucatecos from Yucatan. She remembers how beautiful and safe the park felt, the community environment that reminded her of home.
It was this feeling she wanted to bring back to the community when she had the idea for the Mundo Maya Day. Around 900 guests attended the first official celebration at MacArthur Park in 2018.
A census study conducted by the local indigenous woman-led nonprofit organization CIELO (Comunidades Indígenas en Liderazgo) showed roughly 24,000 residents of Mayan descent lived in Los Angeles.
The CIELO Organization says, “The ‘Maya’ category aggregates all Mayan groups. However, this is an umbrella term that includes communities from Guatemala and Mexico that often have different and distinct languages, cultures, and traditions.”
The regions of Pico Union, Koreatown, and Westlake consist of a highly diverse indigenous population ranging from Zapotec, K’iche’, Chinanteco, Mixe and many more groups according to CIELO.
The celebration will also add a final-hour dedication to Yucatan and honor Armando Manzanero, a Mayan Grammy winner who died in 2020.
Mijares admits there is always a concern with the risks of immigration enforcement, but is confident families will feel safe at this year’s event. The celebration will have security guards present throughout the event.
During this time last summer, federal agents arrested over 4,000 people, according to a report by the Department of Economic Opportunity. By the end of 2025, that grew to over 14,000 people, who were mostly residents without a criminal record, according to researchers from UCLA and UC Berkeley.
In June, Immigration and Customs Enforcement recorded 43,138 arrests across the nation, the highest monthly total of the current administration. Immigration enforcement in Los Angeles has been much more subtle in its execution in comparison to last year but enforcement numbers continue to increase in the city.
Still, Mundo Maya organizers felt like they could not deprive their community of the event.
“At some point in life we need to decide if we let fear control us or not. So we have to take that step and say we’re here,” said Mijares.
She hopes that for at least the three hours they can bring life, music, and healing to the community. She welcomes anyone interested in learning about Maya and indigenous cultures to show up.
“We want people to feel proud of who you are and where you come from. Feel proud of who we are here, the backbone of the country.”
Organizers recommend several ways to get to the event:
Via the train: The Metro B Line to the MacArthur Park / Westlake Station
Via the bus: Metro bus lines 18, 20, 51, 351, 603, 720
Parking: Athena Parking at 611 S. Carondelet St.
Attendees are welcome to bring their own picnics, blankets, and lawn chairs.