ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - Elk Grove residents flocked to District 56 on April 13 to indulge their sweet tooth and to celebrate Day of La Concha.

In its second year, Day of La Concha was an event hosted by ARTners, a nonprofit based in Sacramento that specializes in art and creativity. Markos Eguere, vice president for ARTners, said Day of La Concha “is a subculture of the Mexican culture” because conchas have taken on their own identity of entertainment and attraction.

“As the ARTners, when we were adding cultural heritage events into Elk Grove, we were looking for something different and fun, and we came up with the concha,” Eguere said. “Adding the subtitle of ‘Elk Grove Sweet Fest,’ we invited other sweet vendors to join along with our Mexican culture.”

The concha, which is Spanish for “shell,” is a well-known piece of bread from Mexico. It is a “pan dulce,” which translates to “sweet bread.” The bread is made to look like a seashell with the frosting in a shell pattern. 

Eguere said the event was also educational because some people may not know where the bread is from, despite seeing them in various places, and how some people never know the origin.

Venessa Aviles, executive director for Sisters of the Creative Divine, said her organization has worked with ARTners and was there to help support the event.

 Aviles said the event brought a sense of Latino culture to Elk Grove. With the event being in its second year, she would like for there to be a third one and to help contribute in future events.

“I feel that it’s a great event; it brings people together and there was amazing food out there,” Aviles said. “One of the things that I really enjoy about it is it’s friendly to all walks of life, whether older or younger; it really ties everything in.”

The event had attractions ranging from balloon animals and face-painting to artwork on display, some related to conchas. Large paintings on the outside also featured with conchas.

Sacramento artist Cindy Rodriguez said it was the first time she did the event. She said she has connections to ARTners and that when she started getting involved in the art community, she would make connections with other people, some of whom would invite her to events to display her art. 

Rodriguez had some artwork related to conchas on display. She noted that she mainly did them for the event, but she said that she walked around and saw some other vendors had different types of merchandise in relation to the concha.