Enjoy some authentic ethnic cuisine, drinks, games, and music when you attend the second annual Hispanic Heritage Festival in Monmouth this weekend.
There will be 20 regional Hispanic food vendors, G&M Distributors will have specially curated Hispanic beer and other liquor selections at the second edition of the festival from 6 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, Sept. 16,
Entertainment will be provided by Edrass Chavez, Quad Cities Ballet Folklorico, Música EN VIVO de Banda La Nueva Perla Del Sur de Des Moines, IA, with Noris Sound and Lighting providing the stage for the performances. There will also be games and other activities, as well.
Jeannie Weber, Executive Director of the United Way of Warren County, tells WGIL that the event is in its second year after being delayed because of the COVID pandemic and that her organization has been working closely with the Hispanic community to help members get settled into the region.
“Part of our mission at our office is to work with immigrant communities in the region and that consists of a number of different things. It kind of began with providing translation services to area schools working with some translators at Smithfield Foods that I turned to for that kind of thing. We also, during COVID, had secured a couple of grants so we could purchase electronic translators, which use 74 different languages, and we gave them to regional businesses, first responders, etcetera so that communication could be a little bit easier for both the person not speaking English and the person working with them.”
Weber says the festival came from a conversation she was a part of with members of the Hispanic community about helping the community build trust. “I determined that the best way to get to know someone and break down all of the differences was to learn about each other over food, music, and alcohol,” she joked with WGIL in a Tuesday morning interview.
The first year of the Hispanic Heritage Festival was a huge success. Weber shares that they anticipated 600 attendees in the first celebration but ended up having 1,100. The celebration was held in the parking lot adjoining the United Way offices on Monmouth’s public square. This year, the event will take over the northeast quadrant of the square.
Admission to the festival is free and there will be money raised through alcohol sales that will be going directly to a new fund, led by Hispanic community members, to support the Hispanic community. Weber tells WGIL that the vendors who will be selling their foods at the festival are not charged to be there.
She adds that the United Way is also working on a number of other things. She says the organization is working with the Congolese community to help keep younger community members in the Monmouth area. Additionally, a rebranding of BaconFest is looking to return after the city undertakes its public square re-beautification project.
