Finding high-energy, culturally welcoming spaces designed for both lively toddlers and their caregivers on Chicago’s Southwest Side has long been a challenge.
La Casa Playroom, known for championing bilingual and multicultural play and for fostering community, is taking direct aim at that gap.
This Saturday, August 1, they are putting on Bebetón, equal parts neighborhood fiesta and early childhood resource hub, in Brighton Park.
This free daytime celebration is the playroom’s biggest project yet, transforming the Chicago Park District headquarters—Brighton Park Campus Gymnasium (4830 South Western Ave)—into a sanctuary for parents and children between the ages of zero and six years old.
Attendees can expect soft play zones, bouncy houses, and giveaways alongside samples from local vendors.
The gathering goes beyond standard entertainment to connect caregivers directly with local non-profits and family services, while prioritizing accessibility with a dedicated nursing room and a quiet, low-stimulation sensory space for families who need a break from the noise.
The inspiration behind Bebetón stems from a simple realization shared by La Casa Playroom co-founders—and parents of two—Angie Maciel-Wright and Jeremy Wright: young children love to move, but caregivers deserve to have fun and unwind just as much. The vision for the event began with a New Year’s Eve celebration tailored specifically for early risers with early bedtimes.
Their very first event was built around a noon countdown, offering toddlers and their caretakers a chance to experience the excitement of a traditional midnight ball drop without the late-night meltdowns or ruined sleep schedules.
“Our kids like to dance. Our kids already act like they’re caffeinated, right?,” co-founder Jeremy Wright said. “The very first one that we had was based off of [a] New Year’s Eve ball drop.”
By flipping the clock, Wright noted the event helped “kill two birds with one stone”,”giving parents a fun, guilt-free way to celebrate alongside their children, while creating a unique party atmosphere young kids rarely get to access.
Co-founder Angie Maciel-Wright approached the concept by designing the experience around the realities of everyday parenting, ensuring caretakers feel cared for too.
“When I was planning this, I was focusing on the parents having fun and, by extension, the kids would have fun based off the space,” Maciel-Wright said.
“I really thought about it [through] the lens [of] a mom and as a caregiver that’s exhausted … I wanted to do all the heavy lifting for the moms and the caregivers,” she said.
While La Casa Playroom has hosted a few iterations of Bebetón since their opening, this upcoming gathering marks their largest event to date and remains completely free for families to attend.
The leap in scale was directly driven by overwhelming demand from local neighborhood families as past iterations frequently reached capacity.
“There’s a huge need … We always have a waitlist for Bebetón,” Maciel-Wright said.
“And then this Bebetón at the Park District, we thought, ‘Oh, we’re barely going to get 150 RSVPs.’ We then expanded it to 250, then we expanded it to 350, and now we have people on a waitlist,” she said.
For Maciel-Wright, the sheer volume of interest highlights a long-standing gap in neighborhood family programming across the area. The Bebetón crowd has grown to more than five times its previous attendance of 60 people.
“The writing is on the wall that this is what’s needed in the community, especially in the Southwest Side,” Maciel-Wright said. “I was born and raised on the Southwest Side … and I’ve never seen a community, an organization build this type of community for children this age.”
For local parents like Gage Park resident Angelina Romero, the lack of dedicated, high-quality family spaces on the Southwest Side was a routine frustration.
“I found myself constantly having to drive to the North Side of Chicago to sort of partake in these events … I had to drive so far to get there,” Romero said. “I had a really hard time finding places where I could connect with other mothers. I think it’s important that resources are spread throughout the city.”
When Romero discovered La Casa Playroom, it offered a refreshing neighborhood alternative. Attending a Bebetón event provided an environment that catered to her daughter while offering real connection for herself.
“It was finally a place where I could, yes, take my daughter, but also have fun as a mother—and get to hear music, drink coffee, and socialize with other mothers,” Romero said. “Something that really stood out to me too is the bilingual aspect of it … and not only in Spanish, but in Chinese too, so I felt like they’re capturing the larger community.”
Recognizing the potential to bring that same energy to a much larger audience, Romero took on the role of co-host for the upcoming event and approached the organizers with an ambitious proposal.
“I pitched them: ‘How about you make this bigger and make it free? Make it a little bit more inclusive, because I think these kinds of events are needed on the Southwest Side,’” Romero said. “And they were completely receptive to it.”
Romero suggested scaling up to the Chicago Park District headquarters in Brighton Park, choosing the venue specifically for its modern facilities and spatial flexibility, as well as its direct access to public transit via the Orange Line.
The location also accommodated essential inclusive features, such as a separate nursing room for mothers and a low-stimulation sensory space for children with special needs.
With hundreds of families pre-registered—drawing heavily from surrounding neighborhoods like Brighton Park, Gage Park, Little Village, Chicago Lawn, Garfield Ridge, and Back of the Yards—Romero sees the overwhelming response as proof of a crucial community need.
“I’m excited to see the energy, the vibe … I’m excited for the music, to dance,” Romero said. “I’m excited to see my daughter have fun and the other kids in the neighborhood.”
For parents living in the Brighton Park neighborhood, the impact of La Casa Playroom and its signature event extends far beyond a single afternoon of entertainment. Zophia Villareal first discovered the playroom as a neighborhood stay-at-home mom looking for ways to socialize her young son, who was not enrolled in daycare.
“When I saw the concept of the playroom, I was very excited because I lived two blocks down,” Villareal said. “I was like, ‘This is exactly what I was looking for’ … It’s like everything we needed and more.”
Villareal, who eventually joined the team as a staff member and helped prepare for the original New Year’s Eve event, saw firsthand how the concept created a welcoming space for families who often lacked local options. Unlike larger, commercial play spaces that can feel overwhelming, she noted that the unique environment helps young children build confidence and form organic friendships.
“It’s very intimate,” Villareal said. “What I enjoyed working there and seeing was how the kids are pushed to interact. Once they come out of their little shell, they’re the best of friends.”
That sense of social connection proved equally meaningful for the caregivers themselves.
“I really enjoyed interacting with moms, because I’m a mom as well,” Villareal said. “I feel like it just brought a community and moms together, parents, and especially the kids … As a parent, your kids having a blast just makes your heart happy.”
La Casa Playroom’s events have also been helpful for local entrepreneurs.
Nancy Torres, founder of Nevarez Carne Seca and N&E Dulces, credits La Casa Playroom with giving her the initial push to step into the local market. Torres, who runs her business alongside her son, Efran, originally started making custom beef jerky and chamoy-infused gummies as a small family venture.
When La Casa Playroom was preparing to celebrate its one-year anniversary, Torres took a leap and reached out about becoming a vendor—a move that marked her very first pop-up event.
“I really didn’t even know where to start, to be honest,” Torres recalled. “La Casa Playroom was actually the first place that I reached out to … and that’s what actually led me a little bit more to get out there and be like, ‘Okay, you can do this.’”
Since that first event, Torres’ business has expanded into three local retail locations.
She credits the welcoming atmosphere cultivated by La Casa Playroom’s founders with creating an environment that truly supports small vendors.
”They make you feel like this is your shine,” Torres said. “The way I see [Maciel-Wright], how she pushes … it gave me the energy.”
For other local vendors, collaborating with La Casa Playroom is rooted in mutual support and shared community vision.
Sandra Soto, founder of Elite Chicago Snack Bar, entered the local market in March 2025, seeking a creative outlet and additional income as a stay-at-home mom.
What began as a venture serving fresh fruit cups, elote en vaso, mini pancakes, and chamoy treats quickly grew into a thriving business catering birthday parties, weddings, and corporate events across the city.
When La Casa Playroom hosted its Valentine’s Day Bebetón, Soto reached out directly to Maciel-Wright to donate her snack bar services, recognizing a shared effort to uplift families on the South Side.
“I wanted to give back to the community, and I wanted to do something that I knew was going to [bring] more people to go to La Casa Playroom,” Soto said. “I messaged her on Instagram and let her know I would love to donate my services, give out everything for free, and post it on my social media so it gets more attention.”
For Soto, who has lived on the South Side most of her life, spaces like La Casa Playroom fill a long-standing void for local families by offering bilingual, culturally grounded programming where neighbors of all backgrounds can connect.
“We have daycares and stuff, but we don’t have these types of businesses in our area … Having La Casa Playroom means so much because everybody gets a chance to get to know each other, and we have a chance at a good community, especially for the little kids.”
Soto points to the event’s mix of entertainment and essential family resources—spanning childcare to immigration services—as proof of its lasting impact.
“They truly do care about the families and creating a positive impact in the community,” Soto said.
For co-founders Angie Maciel-Wright and Jeremy Wright, Bebetón has always been a labor of love—a grounded response to the distinct lack of family-centered infrastructure on the Southwest Side.
Maciel-Wright intentionally structured the event to lighten the load for exhausted caregivers, taking on the heavy lifting so parents can step into a space where they can genuinely relax. For Wright, the ultimate goal reaches beyond a single afternoon of fun—it’s about long-term belonging.
“I want families to leave feeling like they found a community they didn’t know they had,” Wright said.
As Bebetón continues to expand to meet overwhelming demand, this summer’s celebration arrives at a bittersweet crossroads.
Maciel-Wright and Jeremy Wright are preparing to vacate La Casa Playroom’s physical space around September, bringing an end to the storefront that served as an essential sanctuary for local parents. While La Casa’s events are growing and expanding, everyday foot traffic is slow, forcing them to shutter.
Navigating the closure of a brick-and-mortar hub comes with real logistical and financial strain as the team works through the costs of moving, clearing out the facility, and sustaining their programming beyond a set location. The two have found that a pop-up model has a higher success rate, and they intend to lean into it.
For the co-founders, the immediate need during this transition is to find sustained community support, financial backing, and long-term partners to help preserve the framework they spent years building. For now, the plan is to continue programming quarterly events and their staple celebrations like the cooking workshops and ‘mommy and me’ events.
To stay updated on their transition, support their next steps, and follow their ongoing journey, you can follow them on Instagram and visit their website at lacasaplayroom.com.
Amaris Edwards is a Chicago-based freelance journalist and storyteller dedicated to covering the narratives of South and West Side communities. A former City Bureau Civic Reporting Fellow, her work spans staff reporting and multimedia production with outlets like The Columbia Chronicle, True Star, and Block Club Chicago. Amaris leverages her background in poetry and local activism to center South and West Side communities, mutual aid, and youth experiences.