Source by Paola Trabanco
Have you ever arrived early to an event and found yourself surrounded by madness and chaos? You see people going left to right, making sure that every last detail is set for the event. This mass chaos shows how much work and motivation goes into planning events.
The Latino Festival was celebrated on Thursday, October 9 at the Hagan Campus Center. It was a chance for different cultures within the Student Body to come together and celebrate their unique cultures. Nathalie Vega and Mike Blandon were excellent hosts throughout the night. They were very engaging, friendly and welcoming to the crowd.
One thing that was different from other years is the amount of people that showed up for this event.
“Every year we have a bigger crowd, [sic] its so exciting to see. A diverse array of people enjoying this great event. So nice to see so many faculty members here,” said Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Catherine Woodbrooks.
The Latino Festival has much to offer: delicious food, beautiful decorations, live music and dance performers. Each table was decorated with a flag from a Hispanic country and each table had fun facts about that country as well.
“For me it’s a chance for all backgrounds of the Latino culture to come together and enjoy each other’s company, food, music and also for other cultures to learn about the Latino culture” said President of ALANA Jackie Louro.
The food was served buffet-style with a wide variety from which to choose. Foods from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Brazil were served that night. Having live music for any event makes a difference—Grupo Fantasia was very engaging with the audience and they played salsa, merengue and bachata. They invited everyone to get on their feet and show their dancing skills. Ritmos y Raices were the performers of the night. They each showed their dancing skills and colorful costumes.
Of course, we cannot forget about the piñata. A piñata is a container made of paper mache and is filled with all sorts of candy that is hung from the ceiling. The person is blindfolded, spun around or her person five times and asked to hit the piñata with a stick to try to break it so that candy will come out.
“I was excited to show the Latino culture to students at Assumption who don’t know a lot about our culture. A lot of people came and I hope that more people will come back next year,” said Erika Jyring-Lopez who is on the Community Outreach Executive Board. Each year the Latino Festival has a bigger audience, and hopefully throughout the years, many students will attend and enjoy what the ALANA board has to offer.
