Festival Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado, singer, and Frida Kahlo’s Doctor

“Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado Festival, Alamos, Sonora
Since 1984 this festival has been held in honor of Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado (singer of popular music and physician to Frida Kahlo). This 9 day celebration hosts a variety of exhibitions, dance performances, workshops, lectures, musical events, youth education concerts, as well as the sale of regional handicrafts. Based in Alamos, Sonora, this festival is celebrated throughout the region including Navojoa, Nogales, Huatabampo, Hermosillo, and Ciudad Obregon.

You may be wondering why I would choose to spotlight this festival instead of the annual celebration of the founding of Merida, Yucatan, a destination very popular with US citizens at this time, but Sonora is my home state. I was born in Agua Prieta, across the border from Douglas and lived there on and off for much of my early life. Sadly, I never got to know these charming little towns though I heard stories from my grandmother all my life. She was born in Bavispe, and my mother had spent some time in Cananea, but roads were rough while I was growing and somehow my mother never took us there. We’d drive through Arizona to Nogales and cross the border there to go to Hermosillo and Guaymas.

I first became aware of this festival when I participated in an event in Central Park launching the Mexico Tourism Board and National Geographic Traveler Unexpected Mexico program and saw the beautifully printed annotated geo-tourism and informative maps they gave out. I urge everyone to take a look at the links describing the event and the routes.

The website for the Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado festival is fantastic, however….in Spanish, but I was thrilled to discover that it is very multi-faceted with sessions on native healers, arts and crafts, and the cooking of the yaqui and mayos- who celebrate 70 religous feasts! This will be my next area of research for sure. I feel woefully ignorant of our native traditions. We were ranchers and the two worlds didn’t often meet although el Maestro Gabriel, a yagui blacksmith, was with the family from age 10 to 110 when he passed away.

Please let me know if you go and tell me what it’s like.

Festival information in English

National Geographic Geotourism Guidel