Asha Longsworth
Staff Writer
Downtown Pomona hosted its monthly ArtWalk event on Saturday, featuring live performances, food vendors, local businesses and artists.
The art walk is hosted every second Saturday of the month from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. as a way to celebrate art, culture and community.
“It’s nice to see how vendors and businesses are embracing the idea of community, especially since it is Hispanic Heritage Month,” Victoria Cubilla said.
Guests of the community were greeted at the entrance of the art walk by a life-size ofrenda-like art display with plug-in animatronics dressed as a mariachi band.
The theme of this month’s art walk was “Viva El ArtWalk” to pay homage to the diversity and artistic expression within the Hispanic community that resides in Pomona.
“I was born and raised here, so it’s been cool to see it evolve from the time I first started coming as a teenager and now as a young adult,” Cubilla said.
The art walks in downtown Pomona are hosted by the Downtown Pomona Owners Association. The core purpose of the association is to make downtown Pomona a desirable and economically vibrant place to be.
“No need to go to Hollywood, we have it all right here in Pomona,” Armando Lara, owner of La Bomba Vintage, said.
This purpose is shown through organizations, individuals and even schools like the School of Arts + Enterprise located in downtown Pomona.
“It’s a part of the school culture; every art walk the school’s gallery shows the student art,” Marcie Mercado, mother of a student attending SAE, said. “I like that this is a community event, it feels very Pomona.”
Sage Mercado stood with her mother and family as they sold Sage’s handcrafted friendship bracelets and fidget charms. “I like how there’s so many creative people,” Sage Mercado said.
Many creative people such as Rolo Castillo, an artist recognized for his screen printing skills, have participated in the Pomona art walk series. Castillo’s influence on the pop art movement and revitalization of the art landscape in Pomona is just one example of the many artists that emerge from this city.
“Pomona art walk has been around a lot longer than we have, but we’ve met and still have so many close relationships with artists that have come through Pomona,” Lara said. “A lot of art work you see in our store is from artists who are our friends like Rolo.”
Outside of La Bomba, a vendor sold bracelets, pins and trinkets for $1 each. In the plaza next to it, the artwalk featured a family-friendly performance by Vitello’s Circus and an aerial show by The Stage Global on Thomas Street.
“We have new talent coming in, sometimes you have the local music academy for kids that come and play here,” Lara said. “It’s feeling like it was in the nineties, there’s a lot more art, we have music, we have everything.”
La Bomba Vintage is located at 195 West 2nd St. and opens at noon daily and closes at 9 p.m. on Saturdays.
“I feel like Pomona is so turnt, and I love how everyone takes such good care of it,” Ahsha Jones, a University of La Verne alum who frequents the art walk with friends, said.
Last month’s art walk celebrated 32 years of the monthly tradition, where there was live traditional cumbia music and Athens Services, a local recycling and waste collection company, educated the community on what-goes-where in reference to waste.
“The last time I was here, AMOCA hosted free pottery lessons and there’s a vendor that always has $1 jewelry,” Jones said. “The Pomona art walk is a really intimate way to see the city.”
The next art walk is titled Trick-or-Treat at Art Walk on Oct. 10, 2026 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. For more information visit downtownpomona.org/artwalk.
Asha Longsworth can be reached at asha.longsworth@laverne.edu.
Asha Longsworth is a senior communications major with a concentration in public relations, and a staff writer for the Campus Times.
