The dozen nonprofits who took to the Soboba Casino Resort Event Center stage for the 13th annual Lip Sync Contest presented by the Soboba Foundation and Soboba Casino Resort were greeted by an enthusiastic sold-out audience and double the winnings they were expecting. Host and emcee Andrew Vallejos kept the night moving with big laughs and crowd cheers of his own.
The Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians held an Academic Achievement Awards Ceremony to celebrate its outstanding students from the 2020-2021 school year. Some of the recent graduates will pursue higher education while the middle- and high-school honorees will be starting back to school in a few short weeks.
Soboba Tribal Executive Officer and emcee, Steven Estrada, welcomed all guests and offered a blessing for the students. Chairman Isaiah Vivanco introduced fellow council members Vice Chairwoman Geneva Mojado, Secretary Sally Moreno-Ortiz, Treasurer Daniel Valdez and Sergeant at Arms Kelli Hurtado.
When Dayshawn Townsend became employed by Soboba Casino Resort in San Jacinto he did not know that it would lead to his fulfillment of a decades-long goal he had for himself. As a teenager, living in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, he got off track and ended up dropping out of high school.
Several months ago, the Soboba Casino Resort marketing department, led by Chief Marketing Officer Martin Moore, started to formulate a plan for a new and exciting event they could host at the resort in the spring. The result was a Food Truck Fiesta held on May 15 and 16.