What is the Lakewood Pan American Festival and how did it get started?
In 1947, residents Jess Solter and former Bolivian Consul Walter Montano began the Lakewood Pan American Festival as a way to improve and strengthen relations among Pan American countries. At their request, the Lakewood Lions Club adopted the idea as a community project, that would include a flag exchange, the naming of a park for the event, and an annual parade. Held each April, the week-long festival became the country’s biggest program for promoting good relations among Pan American countries and included a banquet and ball in addition to the sports festival and other activities. It grew to become a non-profit organization called the Lakewood Pan American Festival, Inc., and aspects of the festival can be seen in Lakewood with the naming of three parks after Latin American heroes Simon Bolivar, Jose San Martin, and Jose del Valle.
