Sense of Place : Indio: The City of Festivals

Indio, California, the city I spend most of my childhood and a dear place of mine. I am going to be describing Indio as how I remember it being and how this city show’s how it contributed to the American West. First, I will be explaining the history of the city and its topography. After that, I will talk about the population and the annual festivals. Hopefully with the descriptions I give, you’ll get a feel of the city and draw a mental picture in your mind.

The wonderful city of Indio was a waypoint for the South Pacific Railroad that traveled from Yuma, AZ to Los Angeles, CA. This Waypoint was created because the train’s engines needed to be checked and cleaned in order for the train to make it to Los Angeles in good condition. Knowing that this place was going to need lots of engineers and Railroad workers, the South Pacific Railroad decide to make homes and make the place livable for the workers to go and to stay there. They contracted many Mexican Immigrants to work with the railroads and needed them to available wherever they were needed. After the railroad was made in 1876, the waypoint started looking more like a city. Indio (Indian Wells at that time) started growing Onions, Cotton, Grapes, Citrus and Dates. With the agriculture booming and the stores and restaurants that were made by South Pacific, Indio became a city and not just a waypoint.

Indio is in the center of the Coachella Valley and is surrounded by different desert cities. This is where I was born and spend most of my childhood at. Every time I talk about Indio I feel the Sonoran Desert heat. I remember not ever wanting to go get the mail in summer because as soon as I open the door from my house, I felt that I entered to fires of hell and was bombarded by intense heat. It only took me two minutes to go and get the mail, but when I return to the house I was sweating like if I ran a marathon. The summer temperature where almost always above 110degrees, but always caught a break in winter, when the temperature was whopping low of 90 degrees. One thing I miss is seeing Date Tree’s everywhere I went. I always enjoyed eating those sweet, delicious Dates and never having to really worry about not being available year round since Indio is pretty much the capital of Dates in the U.S. Another thing that is pretty cool is how close all the desert cities are to each other. I remember my dad use to drive us to the grocery store in Coachella that was 2 miles away and to buy clothing in La Quinta that was like 5 miles away. The background landscape of my old city had three massive mountain ranges that pretty much surround Indio and the desert cities. That’s what made Indio very hot year round. Even though there is intense heat and in the middle of the desert, it has not stop people from living there.

The population of Indio area as of 2010 is over than 75,000 people. It has been growing at steady pace throughout the last century. Do to the “Traqueros”/Mexican Immigrant Workers that were brought to work at the railroad; Indio has attracted many more Hispanic to live there. More than 60% of the people of Indio are Hispanic and not just people from Mexico, but from Central America too. Indio has visitors in the winter only. The visitors like the warm temperature and enjoy the desert lifestyle. Due to the visitors, Indio has created many Casinos’, Hotels, and golf Resorts which makes Indio shine bright at night. Like in Yuma, AZ, the winter visitors increase the population of Indio quite a bit and create many winter jobs. There is one thing that everybody who stays in Indio has in common and that is going to the festivals.Just thinking about the festivals gets me all hyper and my mouth all watery. They don’t called Indio “The City of Festivals” for nothing. The two most famous festivals are the National Date Festival and the Tamale Festival. I remember going in the afternoon in February to the National Date Festival. Hearing the Merchants yelling how much sweeter and better their Datesare than the rest. Getting free samples of Dates left and right and buying souvenirs. Hearing the live music all day till night time was amazing, but having a stomach ache due to all the Dates I ate was not. My favorite Festival still is the Tamale Festival in December. The delicious smell of all the food in the air makes any person forget about their diets. Smelling the freshly cooked beef, pork and chicken combine with the smell of rice, beans and tortillas overwhelmed the nose. I remember loving to go to the festival for the food that literally was in every corner, but also because there were rides and roller coasters too. Riding with friends and enjoying daytime and the nighttime on rides and eating is heaven for any person.

I have very vivid memories of how Indio looked and how awesome where the festivals. Now with a little research I discovered how Indio came to be and how the population grew over time. Apart from my nostalgic memories of Indio, Indio is a great example of how some of the cities of the American West became to be. Most people that think about the American west picture somewhere with intense heat and with seeing nothing but desert all around and Indio “The City of Festivals” is a great example of that image.

Biography of Juan Levya

I was born in Indio, California, that is only about two and half hour from here going towards Los Angeles. I spend most of my childhood there. Then I moved to Yuma, Arizona and spend most of my teen years till now. Currently I’m attending Arizona Western College to get my General Business Associates. Good thing that this is my last semester…Well if I pass all my classes. After I get out of College I will go and get my Truck Driving License/C.D.L and get a job in truck driving. Hopefully more down on the road, I will have enough experience about trucks that I will start my own trucking company. I will finally get to use my knowledge of running a business until then. Most likely I will stay in the American West. I know my way around it and I feel really comfortable here. Knowing that I was born in the West and going to spend my life here working gives me a sense of pride that I’m a Westerner.