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Cesar Chavez Plaza dedication draws UFW founder’s family and successor

For Release: October 12, 1997

12 noon Sunday in Sacramento

Cesar Chavez Plaza Dedication Draws
UFW founder’s family and successor

Among those joining Mayor Joe Serna Jr. for formal ceremonies Sunday dedicating Cesar Chavez Plaza in front of the City Hall will be the late farm labor leader’s successor as United Farm Workers president, all three of Chavez’s sons and farm worker supporters from Sacramento and other Valley communities.

Speakers at the 12 noon ceremony will include UFW President Arturo Rodriguez, who has led a major new union organizing campaign among farm workers since his father-in-law’s death in 1993. Since 1994, the UFW has won 14 straight secret-ballot elections and negotiated 15 new contracts with growers. Rodriguez is presently leading an organizing drive among strawberry workers on California’s Central Coast that is jointly sponsored by the UFW and the national AFL-CIO.

The Sunday, Oct. 12, 1997 schedule is as follows:

10 a.m. –Special Mariachi Mass, Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, 11th & K Streets, downtown Sacramento.

11 a.m.–March from the Cathedral to Cesar Chavez Plaza, 9th and "I" Streets.

12 noon–Dedication ceremony, Cesar Chavez Plaza.

1 p.m.–Free concert at the plaza with Bay Area artists Los Angelitos.

There will also be food booths, and arts and crafts.

In July 1993, the Sacramento City Council voted unanimously for a Serna-authorized ordinance establishing a paid municipal holiday on Chavez’s birthday, March 31. Chavez died on April 23, 1993.

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