SAN DIEGOSAN DIEGO — The royal blue tulle and rhinestone-covered dress Alexis Osuna had planned to wear to her 15th birthday celebration — her quinceañera — hung in her closet for nearly a year. The teen’s coming of age party had been canceled because of coronavirus restrictions on large gatherings.
Recently she took it out and wore it in a white limousine that took her to celebrate her quinceañera after all, on June 5 — nearly a week before was to she turn 16.
Her family held the bedazzled the event at an Encanto VFW hall for close family and friends.
“I’m excited. It was hard to wait, but it also made me more excited. I’ve always wanted to have a quinceañera,” she said, as she adjusted the tulle before making her grand entrance with her chambelanes (escorts of honor), young men in matching tan suits, blue ties and sun glasses.
Across the San Diego region, hundreds of family celebrations — such as quinceañeras, weddings, graduation parties and memorial events — were postponed because pandemic precautions limited public gatherings to slow the spread of the virus.
That affected not only families who were looking forward to celebrating important milestones, but it dealt a tremendous blow to many businesses dedicated to organizing, planning and hosting such gatherings.
Unlike restaurants and retail stores, which during the pandemic received periodic reopening guidance that allowed them to partially operate, events business models relied on public gatherings and so didn’t receive such guidance early enough to enable some of them to survive, business owners said.
Some banquet halls and businesses are scraping by on small, modified events as restrictions on gatherings loosened. And the state has issued some guidance for events.
But other businesses have decided to close their doors permanently.
Elvia Pliego said she had to close her Legendary Hall in National City in January, because she could not pay back rent after cancelling so many events at the venue.
The family-run banquet hall had operated for three years. It was a full-service hall that provided decorations, food, music, and a photo booth.
Pliego tried to negotiate with the building’s owners to pay overdue rent as soon as she could host events again, she said, but the family was kicked out of the space.
The family is storing all their party supplies in a storage locker and at their Chula Vista apartment.
“I cry every day,” Pliego said.
Pliego was able to decorate the event space for Osuna’s quinceañera and provided food for the event.
She covered the fence that surrounded the patio with a sparkling cloth to give the appearance that the party was inside a hall. She said the Osuna family was flexible about the situation and allowed her to keep their contract, but other families have not been as understanding.
“The most important thing for me is to make these young girls’ dreams come true,” Pliego said. “I’m determined to complete every commitment I made.”
Christina Osuna, Alexis’ mother, said she felt it was important to organize the party for her daughter, because a quinceañera is a milestone. She didn’t want to give up on the party despite the pandemic.
It’s a longstanding cultural tradition popular among families in Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States to celebrate when a girl turns 15, often with elaborate gowns, dancing with her father and a church ceremony.
Ana Villalobos, co-owner of Chula Vista dress shop Lili’s Creations, said it was scary back in the summer of 2020, when she realized the pandemic wasn’t going away anytime soon. She closed her dress shop in September, she said, to bring down operating costs and because they were not selling any merchandise.
But she reopened in January and slowly business has picked up, she said, but instead of orders coming a year in advance, a lot of families are organizing last-minute parties.
Villalobos said it has been hard watching friends and others in the industry struggle.
“Some people made it and some people did not,” Villalobos said. “Hopefully we survive this hurricane. There were days when it was very depressing, and you didn’t know what was going to happen. But now … we are in the shop working again.”
Events businesses were eligible to apply for COVID-19 assistance. The San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce worked with nearly 50 banquet halls and events businesses to secure grants and loans and helped some restructure their business models to keep their doors open, said Ricardo Villa, president and chairman.
Many of those businesses struggled during the pandemic because they could not operate as normal and didn’t have operating guidance until later in the pandemic, he said.
“The majority of businesses could function on some level, but they literally had to close for 13 months,” he said.
The chamber helped banquet halls with kitchens to secure permits to operate as restaurants, and others chose to rent out their spaces to nearby breweries that needed more outdoor space, he said.
The chamber also provided government officials with recommendations for reopening guidelines for events businesses.
Although the state issued some guidance in April 2021, it was a little too late for some.
Roger Chan permanently closed the Crystal Place Banquet Hall in December because he could no longer pay rent; he had no income from events. He was able to secure loans and grants, but it was not enough to keep the doors open, he said.
The banquet hall near El Cerrito was a popular location for quinceañeras, fundraisers, weddings and birthdays, with a capacity for 450 people. It was a full-service venue that provided decoration services, DJs and caterers.
Chan said the hall was booked for 50 weddings in 2021, so he is in the process of returning deposits to families. The decision to close the hall was not easy, he said.
“We just couldn’t do it anymore,” he said. “The pandemic was not something anyone could plan for.”
