Santa Ana, CA –October 6, 2009 – The recession has many US families tightening their budget belts and searching for ways to cut costs, but there is no doubt that the traditional Hispanic Quinceañera celebration remains in high demand among Latinos, in spite of their current economic woes. More than 1,000 Southland Latino families made their way to the Heritage Square Museum of Orange County in the heart of Santa Ana last Sunday for El Clasificado’s Quinceanera.com Expo and Fashion Show, a free event with a four year tradition of serving Hispanic consumers planning their daughter’s Quinceañera.

 Four hundred 13-15-year-old Latinas attended the expo eager to find fresh and exciting ideas as they plan for their Quinceañera. Perhaps because of the deep-seated cultural ties among US Hispanics, or because of the phenomenal popularity of this celebration on shows such as MTV Tr3s’ “Quiero Mis Quinces” and MTV’s “My Super Sweet 16”, many of the Expo’s attendees seemed determined to carry out this lavish celebration, whose cost can run anywhere between $10,000 - $40,000.

Ana Saucedo of Anaheim Hills, CA is determined to celebrate her daughter Natalie’s Quinceañera, for which they have been preparing for nearly two years. “Our budget for my daughter’s celebration has suffered a bit recently due to higher bills,” states Ana. “But Natalie really deserves this: She’s an excellent student, an active athlete, and she is a sweet and considerate daughter. How can I not give her this celebration?”

Santiago Juarez of Santiago Photography, an exhibitor at the Expo, has noted only a slight shift in consumer behavior. “Quince families have been trying harder to bargain for lower prices, but I haven’t seen too much of a decline as far as business,” he attests. “I’m actually booked for all of next year, and a good number of those are for Quinceañeras, so there’s definitely an upward trend for this market.”

Held on Sunday, October 4th, El Clasificado’s Quinceanera.com Expo and Fashion Show consisted of close to 50 exhibitor booths, a lavish fashion show emceed by Quinceanera.com’s feature writer Hilda Gabriela, a live mariachi and a special Quinceanera.com supplement created specifically for this event.

The free event came to a close on a celebratory note as more than a dozen prize drawings filled the crowd with an energetic buzz of anticipation. The gifts, which are one of the event’s signature elements, included a fuchsia Dell Mini Netbook, and a Quince gown won through a text message contest by Maria Isabel Estrella Bautista of Tustin. The grand prize consisting of a scholarship to the Patricia Sturla Academy and the honor of gracing the cover of El Clasificado’s Quinceañera.com supplement was given to Guadalupe Espinoza, who exclaimed, “Modeling is very important to me, so I’m very happy and honored to be this year’s Quiceanera.com cover girl.”

The event series is presented by El Clasificado, a multi-media print, online and grassroots event marketing solutions company that connects buyers and sellers in the Hispanic community through its handful of niche-oriented websites. A verified publication with a weekly circulation of over 375,000, El Clasificado print reaches more than 1.5 million Latinos and is distributed in nearly 200 cities in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and San Diego Counties.

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