Emporia State’s annual Hispanic Heritage Month celebration will occur Sept. 23 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Kellogg Circle outside of Plumb Hall. 

The event will be open to the community and include a piñata and a jalapeño eating contest.Food trucks and vendors will be at the event as well as various local and on-campus organizations at tables. Organizations currently signed up to table the event include Cross Winds, TRIO, Hispanics of Today and Tomorrow (HOTT), Emporia Spanish Speakers, Emporia Public Library, HALO from Flint Hills Technical College and USD 253’s Emporia Migrant Education Program. 

 “Something different about this year is that I have my supervisor,” said BRIDGE and Intercultural Center coordinator Percy Holt. “Last year we didn’t have a director in place so I was really doing the best I could, but now having a director has been really helpful for reaching out to the community, reaching out to the food trucks … I’m hoping it will be bigger this year, and that we’ll be able to reach out to more organizations and businesses on campus and in the community. I’m Interested to see how many more organizations will have tabling this year.”

The event will feature performances by HOTT’s dance group, Raíces Hispanas Grupo Folklórico, as well as Languages Program & Outreach Coordinator Eunice Sandoval Roman, assistant professor of english & modern languages Juan Pablo Roman Alvarado, and graduate teaching assistants Karina Chaparro Silva and Jasmine Gonzalez from the english & modern languages program. 

“I think it’s important to celebrate Hispanic Heritage because it’s a way of showing support. Having some sort of visual and interactive event on campus is a way to show the Hispanic community that there is support not only from the University, but also all the other organizations that table at the event show how many people in the community are also wanting to engage and interact with a predominant proportion of the Emporia community… celebration is a fun way to engage and interact with a culture that maybe you don’t know much about,” said Holt.