In honor of Cesar Chavez day on Friday, many cities around the Coachella Valley started celebrating the holiday ahead of time, honoring Chavez and the farm worker movement.

Cities from both the East and West Valley took part in celebrating Cesar Chavez, appreciating his legacy, and learning more from his grandson.

Andres Chavez, the grandson of American labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, made his way around the Coachella Valley to talk about his grandfather’s life and the legacy he leaves behind.

“Well, if we don’t learn from history, we don’t know much about our past, right? You know, America’s history is very complex… and so we certainly have to learn from it so that we can improve it.” Andres Chavez says.

First, teaching the younger generation at Desert Hot Springs High School about how important a role the Coachella Valley played in the farm worker movement.

“Sharing with students here today, the history of what took place, they can use that… one so that they know about where they come from and their important place in this country, but not only that, they can learn from the techniques and the strategies that folks use in the past to make change, change that the issues that affected their times, and they can use these techniques today.”

Most importantly, Chavez wants students to take home what his grandfather preached with one simple phrase.

“At the very core of our message was this idea of “Si Se Puede” yes, you can. I think a lot of students, like many of us, face times that are difficult, face times we feel like giving up, but what they know now is they can look at the work of Cesar, they can look at the work of the farmer worker movement and know that if they are able to achieve what they wanted to achieve, there’s no stopping them from achieving their goals.” Andres Chavez states.

Just a few miles East of this event, the City of Coachella added a brand new event honoring Cesar Chavez at Library Park, where many of the folks that attended the event lived through the history and experienced much of it.

“A lot of these folks lived it… I wasn’t around, I think my messages is a little different. I’m happy to be here. People are still talking about the movement. People are still talking about this and his work because they’ve had profound impacts, but it impacts people today.”

In light of the holiday, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla and Representative Raul Ruiz re-introduced legislation to create the Cesar E. Chavez and Farmworker National Park, paying homage to Chavez and all of his work.

Coachella Valley Honors Cesar Chavez