The name change was a long time in the making, and a festival Saturday in Old Town marked the final stage of creating the new Cesar E. Chavez Plaza and Cesar E. Chavez Avenue.

In September, Lansing City Council approved the plaza name, along with an honorary additional name of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue for Grand River Avenue. The decision was made about a year after the effort began, Reyes said.

"The whole idea of Cesar was to help people," Reyes said. "I hope when people see his name they think ‘Hey, this guy did something,’ and look into what he did."

The committee, which has 13 active members, formed in January, months after a local business couple brought up the idea in August 2009, Reyes said.

The committee originally set out to change the name of a stretch of Grand River Avenue to Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, but met resistance with Old Town businesses.

Concerns were expressed over financial costs of updating business cards and print materials with the new street name and diminishing the Old Town brand the area’s been striving to uphold.

Through meetings with the Old Town Commercial Association, the committee sought to have the plaza name and an honorary naming of Grand River Avenue after Chavez.

"We wanted to make sure the businesses in the area knew that we didn’t want this to have a negative effect on anyone," Reyes said.

The event started out with a parade at noon, followed by performances. Vendors also were on hand with plenty of food and other items.

Emily Gonzales, 47, of East Lansing, said the festival represented the culmination of months of hard work.

"This is historic," said Gonzales, whose family took part in the boycotts organized by Chavez. "I was raised to support Chavez."

The committee is planning a Chavez celebration for March 31, in honor of his birthday.