Mexican and Bay Area luchadores are taking the ring on Saturday afternoon at Buena Vista Horace Mann School with a singular goal in mind: to raise enough money to keep funding the arts and other programs for the K-8, the first Spanish-immersion school in San Francisco.
Buena Vista Horace Mann has more than 600 students, as well as a homeless shelter for newly arrived migrant families. For years, the school’s parents and teachers association has raised funds to pay for two positions not covered by the school’s budget, a dance instructor and an arts enrichment coordinator. The latter connects students to arts programs across the city by organizing visits to museums and collaborations with the symphony, ballet or the opera.
The school lost $1.5 million in funding during the 2024-2025 school year, along with two teachers, meaning the PTA’s funds have been stretched even thinner, said PTA president Jenny Pritchett.
And so the school is hosting a party, with luchadores. “La Gran Fiesta” (Spanish for the great party) will take place on the school campus and on Valencia Street between 23rd and 24th streets this Saturday, from noon to 5 p.m.
In addition to Lucha Libre, the party will feature live salsa and mariachi music, dance, and a kid’s zone where children can enjoy mural and face painting, cornhole, an obstacle course and giant bubbles. There will also be food, aguas frescas and, for adults, beer, sangrias and palomas.
Four Mexican luchadores, including Hombre Lanzelop, Amazona, Vaquero Fantasma and Kalibuz, will take the ring on Saturday. Five local fighters, including Nahualt, Chica Lara Fresh, Arsenal, Payaso de Rodeo and Rockero del Diablo, will complete the lineup. Kids will be able to play in the ring between matches and take photos with the luchadores.
Some of the money also pays for a fall carnival, literacy month events that include the purchase of books and pizza for a kids’ book club, sports coaching, a $200 startup fund for teachers at the beginning of the year to buy things for the classrooms, and a potluck for teacher-appreciation day.
This year, however, the last two were taken out of the budget for lack of funds, a decision the PTA’s president, Pritchett, said was disappointing.
Bob Armstrom, the arts-enrichment coordinator at the school for the last 24 years, said he wants to make sure that all the artistic resources that were available to him as a kid growing up in San Francisco are also available to kids at Buena Vista Horace Mann. Specifically, he wants them to feel comfortable accessing all the cultural resources the city has to offer. “The city belongs to them,” said Armstrong. “They should enjoy it.”
The PTA hopes to raise at least $10,000 at Saturday’s event. The group raised about $75,000 last year, and almost $100,000 the year before. As of Wednesday, about $60,000 has been raised.
When asked about the budget cuts and the loss of staff at Buena Vista Horace Mann, the San Francisco Unified School District wrote in a statement that all schools are experiencing reductions in staffing funding for the next school year as the district continues to balance its budget, and that no teachers are to be laid off for the next year.
The last few years have been rocky for Buena Vista Horace Mann. For years, educators and students complained about the dilapidated condition of the building. In 2021, the school was evacuated following a gas leak, a smell that, days earlier, the district had attributed to a dead rat.
In 2022, arsenic and lead were found in the soil, and drinking fountains were flagged for high levels of lead. In 2024, during one of the hottest days of the year in San Francisco, drinking fountains were shut off. In October of that year, Mission Local reported that principal Claudia DeLarios Morán had been advocating for two months before the heat wave for the district to shut off the fountains that had high concentrations of lead.
Despite these challenges, said Pritchett, the school embodies everything that makes the Mission District the open and compassionate community that it is.
“I have seen the work every single day, and the compassion and the sense of humor everyone keeps … it’s just beautiful, resilient and has a strong community of families,” said Pritchett.
“My kid is thriving there. He’s had a great experience. He feels like he can be himself.”
La Gran Fiesta will take place Saturday, April 26 from 12 to 5 p.m. on Valencia Street between 23rd and 24th streets and at the Buena Vista Horace Mann campus, at 3351 23rd St. Tickets for lucha libre can be found here or at the door. Anyone interested in donating can do so here.