The city of Downey hosted the International Food and Music Festival on Downey Avenue from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Some of the festival attractions were face painters, henna artists, caricature artists, balloon artists, the wine garden and craft beer.

There was also a photo booth station, a rock climbing wall, a small petting/feeding zoo as well as a live DJ.

The last International food & music festival that Downey hosted was in 2019 due to COVID and they weren’t able to have the festival for the past two years.

“It is my first time working at this event, I’m really looking forward to trying some food,” one staff member said, “It is also cool seeing the community get together to listen to good music and eat some food.”

Angry Brian’s, Akratic Sun, Joyas Prestadas [a Jenny Rivera tribute], Irie Love and a couple more artists were all scheduled to perform for the festival.

Samantha Macias, a Downey resident said, “I heard about this event through my school’s social media account. I’m really excited about the food, I heard that it’s good and I’m excited to try the pasta.”

There were about 10 food trucks serving food and snacks like crepes, grilled cheese, hibachi, pasta, pupusas and chicken sandwiches.

The two most popular food truck is the Italian Bella Garden, which is known for its pasta and the Teppanyaki Japanese Grill, which serves hibachi-style food.

“I saw the flyer on Instagram and decided to come,” John Rivas, a Pico Rivera resident said, “I bought some hibachi and it was really good. The petting zoo is also cool.”

The petting zoo was located to the right side as one enters the festival, so it was the first thing that people saw.

It included animals like alpacas, baby goats, baby pigs, sheep and other types of farm animals.

It was one of the main attractions that everyone at the festival gravitated towards.

People of all ages stood around watching and feeding the farm animals. Many visitors had fun interacting with them because they don’t see these animals often.

One popular activity was the rock climbing wall and many children stood in line with excitement to participate in rock climbing.

There were many different things to do and look at for people of any age.

People either stood around chatting with one another or sat down at picnic tables eating while listening to the live performances.

Some visitors were right in front of the stages dancing while some of the adults enjoyed the wine garden and craft beer station.

Throughout the festival, staff members were making sure everyone was having a good time and answering any questions that guests had.