Local dancers a highlight of White Salmon’s El Grito festival

by Swen Carlson and Documenter Kat Cuff | Klickitat County

September 21, 2026

IMG_8696 by Maria Rutz cropped andn reduced

Members of local youth dance group Latido Binacional performing at this year’s El Grito. Photo: Maria Rutz/Uplift Local.

On Sept. 13, White Salmon’s Rheingarten Park was decked out in recognition of El Grito, a holiday marking the call for Mexicans to fight for their independence from Spain. This was the fifth year El Grito was part of the city’s regular September observance of Latino/a/x Heritage Month. The festival was put on by 30 local sponsors, including Washington Gorge Action Programs (WAGAP), and featured food, booths, live music and a performance by local youth dance group Latido Binacional.

White Salmon city councilor Morella Mora ran the city’s booth at the event and spoke warmly of her experience at the Sept. 14 meeting of the nonprofit Community Enrichment for Klickitat and Skamania Counties (CEKC).

“It was awesome. Another hit,” Mora recalled. “It was really fun. A lot of music. So much good food, some naughty food.”

Read full notes of CEKC’s Sept. 14 meeting by Gorge Documenter Kat Cuff.

Swen Carlson

+ posts

Swen Carlson is Uplift Local's Community Editor in Oregon. He has lived in The Dalles for the past decade and got his start in journalism with Uplift Local's Gorge Documenters program.