After 52 years of providing the Inland Empire with mini golf, roller skating and go-karting, Fiesta Village Family Fun Park is shutting down.
The Colton amusement park said in a statement Tuesday that it will remain open to the public for its final days this weekend.
“This decision has not been easy. For decades, Fiesta Village has been a place where families gathered, friendships grew and memories were made,” the company said in the statement.
Owner Michelle O’Brien said that rising operation costs and declining attendance were the main reasons behind the closure.
“It’s been a privilege to be the steward at the park. It’s devastating to have to close it, but you get to a point where there are no other options,” O’Brien said. “We’re so grateful that Fiesta Village carried a place in people’s hearts.”
The park first opened in 1974, with a mini golf course, waterslides and go-karts. O’Brien purchased it in 2002 and has operated it ever since. Under her and her husband Patrick’s ownership, the park added attractions such as the Scrambler and Tilt-a-Whirl, along with laser tag and a roller skating rink.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the theme park industry has struggled to fully rebound. Rising costs and a lack of tourism have made the business increasingly difficult to sustain.
Last year, California’s Great America, a Silicon Valley park operated by Six Flags Entertainment, had to cut its workforce and shorten its season. Even theme park giants such as Disneyland are seeing slight downturns in attendance. Disney previously said its U.S. theme parks saw a 1% drop in attendance compared with the prior year, which the company attributed to “continued softness” in attendance by international visitors. Disneyland’s Anaheim park also recently began offering $71 tickets to draw more local visitors.
For parks like Fiesta Village, the rising cost of essentials such as food ultimately makes survival harder, said Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services, a consulting firm. He added that competition from nearby parks is also drawing business away. As a Southern California venue, Fiesta Village sits within driving distance of destinations such as Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland.
“It’s hard for smaller parks to compete with the big entities that surround them. Particularly now as we continue to see this amazing growth in technology for rides and attractions,” Speigel said. “Big attractions are very expensive propositions for parks to put in, and parks like Fiesta Village can’t keep up with that.”
Given the current economic uncertainty, Speigel said, theme parks will probably see a “flat year” — meaning no major growth or decline industrywide.
After Fiesta Village’s final celebration with the public on Friday and Saturday, the park will host a private event Sunday before shutting down for good. It’s unclear what will happen to the property afterward.
“Thank you for allowing us to be part of your lives and your family traditions,” the company wrote. “We will always cherish the role Fiesta Village has played in bringing people together.”
Times staff writer Samantha Masunaga contributed to this report.
WE AREN’T all lucky enough to be close to the coast, so when it comes to hot weather days, it can be hard to find a spot to enjoy the sun.
Yet across the country there are a number of inland beaches you can head to – so we’ve rounded up the best across the country.
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Cotswold Country Park and Beach is home to the largest inland beach in the UKCredit: Alamy
Cotswold Country Park & Beach
The UK’s largest inland beach can be found in the Cotswolds at Cotswold Country Park and Beach, where you can head to the Main Beach for some swimming or dip in the Paddling Lagoon.
The beach is then backed by a grassy area, ideal for picnics.
But don’t worry if you haven’t brought your own food as there is the Beach Shack serving light bites as well as an Ice Cream Hut.
Admission varies depending on the time of year, but during peak season pedestrians and cyclists can access the park from £5 per person and a car of up to five people costs from £18.18 (around £3.64 each).
The unique beach sits 300 metres above sea level in Glenmore Forest Park and while sunbathing on the beach you can even see the snow-topped Cairngorm mountains.
When it comes to the water, it is one of the cleanest freshwater beaches in the UK where you can rent paddleboards and kayaks if you fancy.
The beach is free to visit.
Wallingford Beach, Oxfordshire
Wallingford Beach by the Thames in Oxfordshire is a designated swimming spotCredit: Alamy
Found close to Wallingford Bridge, you can head to Wallingford Beach which stretches 35 metres long.
The Thames-side beach is backed by grass too which is ideal for a picnic.
Despite being a river spot, the water tends to have little to no current during the peak season but is also a designated swimming spot, so the water is tested regularly.
The spot is free to visit.
Rutland Water Beach, East Midlands
Rutland Water Beach in the East Midlands has previously gained a Blue Flag statusCredit: Alamy
In the East Midlands, you can head to Rutland Water Beach which stretches 140 metres.
The spot is the first bathing location in England to achieve both a Blue Flag and Seaside Award for its water quality.
While the beach is open all year round, you can only swim in the water in the summer months from May to September, with opening hours varying from 10am to 6pm.
Access to the beach is free.
St Andrews Lakes, Kent
St Andrews Lakes has a beach as well as overwater lodges like in the MaldivesCredit: St Andrews Lakes
Close to Rochester, St Andrews Lakes has not one but two beaches with sunloungers and pretty blue waters to swim in.
There’s also a Nordic-inspired wellness centre with a hot tub and wood-fired sauna.
You can even stay at the lakes too in overwater lodges that look like ones in the Maldives.
Entry starts from £7.50 per person.
Hemsworth Water Park, West Yorkshire
Or you could head Hemsworth Waterpark & PlayworldCredit: Hemsworth Water Park & Playworld
Hemsworth Water Park in West Yorkshire has not one but two lakes.
Even though you can’t swim in the lakes, the sandy beaches are the ideal place to chill out in the sunshine.
There’s also Playworld by the beach, which is an outdoor adventure playground with a tower slide and climbing frames.
The attraction is free to visit but if you want to go to Playworld, it costs £3 per person.
River Dart Country Park, Devon
River Dart Country Park in Devon has a partially sunken pirate shipCredit: River Dart Country Park
Near Dartmoor in Devon, you can head to River Dart Country Park which is home to a beach at the edge of a lake.
In the middle of the lake you will also find a partially sunken pirate ship.
There’s also a desert island with sand and faux palm trees.
Admission costs between £10 and £14.95 per person depending on whether you visit on a weekday or at the weekend.
Church Stretton Reservoir, Shropshire
Church Stretton Reservoir in Shropshire is a National Trust site you can swim atCredit: Alamy
Located at National Trust‘s Carding Mill Valley, Church Stretton Reservoir has a man-made beach ideal for a day in the sun.
While on the beach you can look out to Long Mynd as well.
When the gates opened at St. John’s Episcopal Church in San Bernardino on Good Friday, the music coming from inside wasn’t that of angel-faced choristers or pipe organs; it was the collective scream of electric guitars.
As the sky darkened over the white stucco church framed in palm trees and the dry peaks of the San Bernardino Mountains, fringed teenagers made their way inside, shaking their limbs and chattering in excitement. Fluorescent lights shone overhead in a room that, by day, hosted Bible studies and food pantries — that night, it would be the site of Spinkick Dance Hall, a regular underground music series where noses are bound to bleed and limbs to flail along to ear-splitting riffs.
It’s just one of many shows taking place from Pomona to Palm Desert, heralding a Latino-led youth revival where the freewheeling movement of mosh pits meets the raw power of punk rock: Inland Empire hardcore.
Teenagers congregate in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church in San Bernardino before the start of the night’s hardcore shows on April 3, 2026.
(Katerina Portela / Los Angeles Times)
As the fast-paced and anti-establishment genre known as punk went mainstream in the ’80s, a harder and more unhinged variant emerged in the States; bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat and Black Flag pushed the limits of vocalization and instrumentation into dissonant new sounds that would make up the subgenre known as hardcore punk.
“As a teenager pre-social media, the music scene was the release for teen angst,” said music photojournalist Zach Cordner. “It was a convergence of nationwide bands that would come to play at [the now shuttered Riverside venue] Showcase Theater, and through word of mouth people got inspired to make cassettes and zines.”
Cordner and his friend Ken Crawford grew up in Riverside in the ’80s and ’90s, photographing the initial wave of hardcore punk taking shape in the Inland Empire. They turned these photographs into a sprawling exhibition held at the Riverside Art Museum earlier this year, “60 Miles East.”
“The scene looks a lot different today than it did in the ’90s,” Crawford said. “It’s browner, it’s queer, and that’s a good thing, to see how it’s become way more diverse.”
Inside the church, the frontman of all-Latino hardcore band Barrio Slam emitted rough growls as the crowd broke into a bustling mosh pit. Teenagers did pinwheel kicks, wrapped Mexican flags over their shoulders and filled the air with chants of “F— ICE.”
Lead vocalist Victor Campos’ family moved from Guadalajara, Mexico, to Pomona, where he says he discovered hardcore through friends. Then, at age 14, Campos attended his first rock show.
“That was the first time that I saw hardcore and metal and the heavier side of music for what it was, and the violence and culture of the shows just sucked me in and I’ve been in it ever since,” Campos said. “It felt like freedom.”
Angela, 19, was in the mosh pit during Load Tha Nine’s performance when she was accidentally struck in the nose by another concertgoer on April 3, 2026, in St. John’s Episcopal Church in San Bernardino. Hardcore shows are characterized by intense music and rough dancing where bloody accidents are not an uncommon sight.
(Katerina Portela / Los Angeles Times)
Jose Ruelas and his Barrio Slam bandmates headbang as they perform on April 3, 2026, in St. John’s Episcopal Church in San Bernardino.
(Katerina Portela / Los Angeles Times)
Campos credits local Latino-led bands like Xibalba and Harsh Reality as inspirations to dive into making music and embrace his identity in the genre.
“In the I.E., it’s really the norm. We’re singing in Spanish, we’re proud. But when we tour, we see it’s not like that everywhere,” Campos said. “Some people still consider punk ‘not for us.’ My own family members will say, ‘You’re listening to white people music.’”
The show at St. John’s is just the tip of the Inland Empire’s DIY venue iceberg. Living rooms, restaurant dining rooms, tattoo shops and record stores have transformed into hardcore venues across the region as established locales closed down.
San Bernardino four-piece “beatdown” group Big Ass Truck is one band that found success beyond the I.E. scene. They signed to Nuclear Blast Records, and at the time of our interview, they had just returned from a tour of Europe.
“With the I.E. especially, we lose a venue like every week. If we have a venue, it’s not staying around for long. I’ve personally seen like three or four venues [in the last few years] just call it,” said Big Ass Truck vocalist Abel Abarca. “So we do get scrappy, and I think that’s what sets the I.E. apart from places like L.A. and O.C.”
San Bernardino hardcore band Big Ass Truck performs a surprise concert at Creator Fest on May 2, 2026, at Creator Tattoo in Pomona.
(Katerina Portela / Los Angeles Times)
Izzy Leyva, 17, describes being met with an immediate “sense of welcoming” at her first DIY hardcore show.
“It’s nice finding people my age to talk about life with. You can start conversations so easily,” Leyva said. “Especially after moshing with someone in the crowd. If you’re struggling to make friends in school, you’ll be able to find someone here.”
She enters the mosh pit fearlessly, dodging flailing arms to two-step — a synchronized dance move that requires punching and running in place — unleashing her energy in the punk sanctum.
“I never feel like an outsider here,” Leyva added.
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1.Mauricio Rivera performs with his band Barrio Slam on April 3, 2026, in St. John’s Episcopal Church in San Bernardino. (Katerina Portela / Los Angeles Times)2.Toni Feliz shows her “IE” tattoo, a nod to her hometown, at Creator Fest on May 2, 2026, at Creator Tattoo in Pomona. (Katerina Portela / Los Angeles Times)3.Izzy Levya, 17, two-steps during Marked for Death’s performance on April 3, 2026, in St. John’s Episcopal Church in San Bernardino. (Katerina Portela / Los Angeles Times)4.Fans dance and “two-step” during Barrio Slam’s performance on April 3, 2026, in St. John’s Episcopal Church in San Bernardino.(Katerina Portela / Los Angeles Times)5.Andres Rodriguez, 18, moshes during Marked for Death’s performance on April 3, 2026, in St. John’s Episcopal Church in San Bernardino. (Katerina Portela / Los Angeles Times)
As 25-year-old Guatemalan American vocalist Jorge Cruz entered the show, he embraced his friends and bandmates. Cruz, who fronts the voracious hardcore band KnuckleSandwich, says he sees TikTok as a major platform for hardcore fans to find one another.
“I saw shows online and was hooked … I used to be so nervous to be in the mosh pit, I’d throw up outside. But when I got in there for the first time, I feel like it changed me into someone who was more comfortable in myself,” Cruz said. “It was like a baptism.”
His music, ranging from songs like “Melting ICE” and corrido-hardcore fusion “El Corrido del Maton,” is inspired by his immigrant household upbringing and interest in Chicano studies.
“Especially with this growing anti-intellectualism going on, and conservatives in our government, writing about Chicano identity and the issues in America feels important,” Cruz said. “There’s no one out there to speak up for us than us.”
A day after attending the show, Garrett Boyer and Kenny Sylvia, longtime friends with nearly matching tattoo sleeves and baseball caps, stood talking in Creator Tattoo Parlor in Pomona.
The pair helps to run Division One, a local booking company that books anywhere from Corona storefront DBZ Books N’ Records to their very own tattoo parlor.
A few weeks prior, Boyer got a call from his sister: His niece was diagnosed with an aggressive childhood cancer called neuroblastoma that had spread through her body, causing his sister to tackle insurance and medical costs. Boyer said he reached out to the hardcore community for help and was “overwhelmed” by the response.
“The community really, really, really came together. A lot of people reached out and really quickly we threw this benefit show that raised thousands of dollars,” Boyer said. “That’s the core of what hardcore music should be and is. It’s community.”
A few months before that, they had united with local bands to throw a benefit show, raising money for immigrant coalition groups after increased ICE raids.
“We thought, ‘How could we not help?’ I’m second generation from El Paso. So many of my neighbors and even my partner’s family were directly affected,” Boyer said. “So many shows are not just about music but they can [impact] people’s lives.”
Brett Rock, bassist of San Bernardino hardcore band Big Ass Truck, performs during Creator Fest on May 2, 2026, at Creator Tattoo in Pomona.
(Katerina Portela / Los Angeles Times)
In Creator’s graffitied back lot area on May 2, bands Load Tha Nine, ’92 and Auditory Anguish opened up a DIY festival called Creator Fest, where 22-year-old Cynthia Garcia came out to “let off steam.”
Garcia, who fronts local band Exutoire, said discovering the local alternative scene “changed everything.”
“In high school, it was very much like nothing was happening. We’re all bored. We’re all depressed. We’re writing, and finally, we get to put the writing to use,” Garcia said. “We meet people that are like-minded and trying to get out of that boredom, and then [the music scene] just exploded.”
At Garcia’s shows, she says she constantly meets concertgoers from L.A., or even from San Diego, who drive hours into the I.E. to be part of its blossoming scene.
At Creator Fest, Abarca commanded the stage, building up the energy of the crowd until hair whipped in frenzies. Abarca says he sees I.E. hardcore continuing to evolve, fusing new genres and making the Inland Empire a place to watch as alternative music booms in the “scrappy” venues of San Bernardino, Corona, Pomona and Riverside.
“Latinos in the Inland Empire have always been hardcore,” Abarca said. “People just know it now because we make them hear us.”
