Kerman Brings Out a Y2K Fest with Live Music

A city that focuses on agriculture and labor is striving to make an impact in the arts. In honor of her birthday, Lizbeth Villicana of Design Hub Studios, hosted Kerman’s first-ever Y2K Fest at Kerkoff Park.

Villicana stated “Kerman doesn’t have many activities, especially anything art-related. I feel like we really need something to guide our younger generation on a different path than us…That’s what we want to create, just a way for people to connect and create more opportunities.”

Walking around, Villicana set up a tie-dye station where you can grab a shirt and color it however you want. She had also painted some CDs and bought markers so that attendees could decorate them their way. I drew flowers on mine while my significant other, Jerry, drew a cartoon version of a Yugi-Oh character on his. We were able to keep them afterwards.

After painting, we decided to walk around and see what vendors were selling. Some vendors sold food, drinks, bouquets of flowers, and custom cups, while others sold crocheted goodies, jewelry, and Pokémon cards.

While Jerry and I were shopping around, we heard a mixture of bands such as Los Imperiales Del Norte, and Subliminal (@thesubliminalofficial) who were playing in the background.

JAS AND JERRY MIGUEL PARTICIPATE IN Y2K FESTIVITIES. (JAS MIGUEL/SETLIST)

Members of band subliminal. (JAS MIGUEL/SETLIST)

The guitarist, Angel Madrigal, formed Subliminal in 2022 after performing at a high school talent show, and made it official with the members Gisel Segura, Chanel Sanchez, and Jared Guitarrez.

The band’s bassist, Sanchez said “The host [Lizbeth] had asked us to come out and play Y2K music for the festival.”

The four are currently growing as a group and pushing rock music to residents of Kerman, all while selling merch to fund their band.

Vocalist, Segura stated, “We came out here to bring this type of music to the people cause it’s not really common here in Kerman.”

Madrigal also added, “We don’t have many local bands like this in Kerman, it’s a really small town.”

Afterwards, Los Imperiales Del Norte started to play Norteño music, including Las Mañanitas for Villicana in honor of her birthday. It was amazing to see the people of Kerman come together and dance along.

Members of band LOS IMPERIALES DEL NORTE. (JAS MIGUEL/SETLIST)

Villicana told me the group is actually her stepdad’s. He came to the U.S. at 15 years old, and he would go into the bars to help out and see the bands play. He then began learning how to play the drums to form his own group.

Since they’re not on social media, Central Valley residents may be able to catch them at a nightclub in Fresno called El Molino Rojo (@rojoelmolino).

As someone who grew up in Kerman, it is amazing to see Villicana take the first steps toward building a larger, more diverse community and creating opportunities for people to grow. It’s definitely something this city has been needing for a long time. She’s even making plans to create Kerman’s first battle of the bands event soon, so stay tuned for updates on her socials (@thedesignhubstudios).