Saturday and Sunday, March 29 and 30, the Barrio Hollywood neighborhood celebrated their 6th Annual Fiesta Grande Street Fair, where Tucsonans browsed arts and crafts, shopped, ate food at the many booths, and enjoyed the music of the various bands that performed at the event.

The festival began six years ago after a sewer line broke beneath the intersection of Speedway Boulevard and Grande Avenue. The damage from the sewer break, as well as the sanitation issues it created, resulted in the temporary displacement of some residents and loss of customers for local businesses.

Margaret McKenna, president of the Barrio Hollywood Neighborhood Association for 20 years, wanted to find a way to rebuild the neighborhood and bring back businesses as well as displaced friends and family.

With funding provided by Pima County, Mckenna founded and organized Barrio Hollywood's Fiesta Grande Street Fair, an event that helped the neighborhood draw people back to their community by showcasing their rich Mexican-influenced culture.

Due to the great success of the first Fiesta, Barrio Hollywood decided to hold another festival the following year.

Although the neighborhood no longer receives all funding from the county, McKenna said, "I get 100 percent support from the city and the county here."

Today, the event is organized through the aid of volunteer efforts and donations from the Tucson community.

The vendors that show at the event must pay for their 10-foot by 10-foot spaces, lined up along Grande Avenue between Speedway Boulevard and St. Mary's Road, but the neighborhood has decided against raising the prices of the lots over the years in order to allow anyone who wishes to participate in the event the opportunity to do so.

The money that the Barrio Hollywood Association makes from the event goes toward scholarships that help keep Tucson kids safe, on and off the streets.

McKenna said that with the profits from Fiesta Grande, they are able to send between 174 and 200 children to Midnight Hoops, a summer basketball program which allows youths to compete in basketball tournaments and leagues within the community.

The neighborhood has worked hard to make Fiesta Grande the best venue they possibly can, and their passion and drive has definitely paid off.

"We have to empower ourselves one way or another to get things to our neighborhood," says McKenna. But during the Fiesta Grande "it's like everybody is part of our culture, our neighborhood."

It's obvious that the event has brought pride to the Barrio Hollywood community. Kids are so excited and anxious to participate in the Fiesta Grande that they volunteer as well.

"Everybody takes care of each other. Everybody knows each other," said McKenna, who is a sixth generation Barrio Hollywood resident. "All the people on our board are neighborhood residents."

The neighborhood is very tight-knit and many of the people have grown up and gone to school together since a young age.

Click here to see another slide show and a tour of the Fiesta Grande by Michael McKisson.