Austin quinceañera planners see demand surge after COVID dip
AUSTIN (KXAN) — After two years of COVID-spurred cancellations and postponements, Austin-area quinceañera planners and vendors are working to keep up with demands following a surge in rescheduled or upcoming celebrations.
Quinceañeras are Hispanic and Latino celebrations of a girl’s 15th birthday, signifying her journey from childhood into womanhood.
On Sunday, Austin businesses Quince Expos and Ricky’s Events hosted a quinceañera expo in north Austin to help connect families with dressmakers, entertainers, caterers, deejays and other local vendors. It was the first expo the two held so far this year, with another planned in Kyle in October.
Traditionally, families are advised to begin planning for a quinceañera a year in advance; now, businesses are recommending a two-year planning period. It’s a welcomed change after two years of cancellations and postponements, said Jason Rubio, owner of Quince Expos.
“It was just a huge boom starting about six, eight months ago, and we’ve just struggled to keep up,” he said. “But it’s a great problem to have — we were happy to have that problem. We were just amazed. We have events almost seven days a week now.”
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Ricky Lopez-Galindo and Jason Rubio hosted a quinceañera expo in north Austin June 26. (Kelsey Thompson/KXAN) -
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The quinceañera expo included food, music, photography and entertainment vendors. (Kelsey Thompson/KXAN) -
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The quinceañera expo included food, music, photography and entertainment vendors. (Kelsey Thompson/KXAN) -
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The quinceañera expo included food, music, photography and entertainment vendors. (Kelsey Thompson/KXAN) -
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The quinceañera expo included food, music, photography and entertainment vendors. (Kelsey Thompson/KXAN) -
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The quinceañera expo included food, music, photography and entertainment vendors. (Kelsey Thompson/KXAN) -
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The quinceañera expo included food, music, photography and entertainment vendors. (Kelsey Thompson/KXAN) -
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The quinceañera expo included food, music, photography and entertainment vendors. (Kelsey Thompson/KXAN) -
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The quinceañera expo included food, music, photography and entertainment vendors. (Kelsey Thompson/KXAN)
Despite the relief that comes with more event requests, Ricky’s Events owner Ricky Lopez-Galindo said there are complexities that come with that demand, particularly in getting dresses — a cornerstone of quinceañeras — to the families.
“There’s not enough people working to produce the dresses or there’s not enough material to produce the dresses. Normally before, we’d have a lot of dresses, but now it’s taking about 10 to 12 months for us to be able to place an order to receive the dresses,” he said. “I think now we’re at two years in planning something like this.”
And that demand isn’t slowing down. While both Rubio and Lopez-Galindo also work on events besides quinceañeras, they said they wanted to use this expo as an opportunity to connect with and support a growing Hispanic and Latino community in Central Texas.
Currently, nearly 33% of Travis…
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