CHICAGO – Reyna Gonzalez, 49, never considered herself an artist. However, inside her Rogers Park store, Dulcería La Fiesta Inc., Gonzalez creates specialty, handmade piñatas daily.
Throughout the store, there are piñatas galore. Characters (like Barbie, Buzz Lightyear, Willie the Wildcat, and more) hang from the ceiling. Gonzalez can transform any character, mascot, or person into a piñata.
Photos Courtesy: Nicole Markus
“We always say, if you don’t find what you are looking for here, just let us know, and we’ll create it for you with that theme,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez bought Dulcería La Fiesta Inc. in 2018 with the goal of selling Mexican candies, party supplies, and of course, piñatas. There was another party store in the building before she bought the space, which made the transition a little easier.
“There are always birthdays, always parties,” she said. “I was like, let’s just try it. I didn’t think about it, I quit my job, and then we bought the business.”
Gonzalez was born in Guerrero, Mexico, but her family moved to Rogers Park when she was one year old. Although she does not know the details of her parents’ immigration, she knows that it was a difficult experience for them. Her father was the first to arrive in the city, followed by Gonzalez, her mother, and siblings.
“It was five kids for a mom by herself,” Gonzalez said. “When my dad asked her to come, my mom said, ‘I’m not leaving without my kids.’”
Her mother worked in a car parts factory, and her father at a chocolatier. She said they didn’t have much money but occasionally received a piñata to celebrate their birthdays.
“I think because we were low income, it was more of a luxury to get a piñata,” she said. “You were lucky if you even got celebrated.”
Although it is easy to find star-shaped piñatas in party store chains like Party City, Gonzalez makes her piñatas based on customer requests.
Gonzalez said, “Instead of us buying, en masse, the same generic piñatas that you see everywhere, I said, ‘Why don’t I teach myself how to do them?’”
Gonzalez said one client drove five hours simply for a specialized piñata design after seeing the store’s Instagram account. Gonzalez hopes to expand her social media presence to access a broader customer base. She has even considered closing her brick-and-mortar location and filling orders online instead.
“Thank God for our custom piñatas,” she said. “It is what has taken us to different places. It has landed us on TV! I’m still just in shock.”
Cover Photo: Reyna Gonzalez, Owner of Dulcería La Fiesta Inc. Photos Courtesy: Nicole Markus
Publisher’s Notes: This story, among others, was produced by undergraduate students in the bilingual reporting class at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media & Integrated Marketing Communications.
Led by Prof. Mei-Ling Hopgood, the class aims to help journalism students practice sensitive and ethical engagement and reporting with multicultural communities in Spanish and English. Students visited the Illinois Chamber of Commerce Business Expo at Navy Pier last fall and interviewed local business owners.