Our community is full of culture and a variety of ethnicities but we always come together to celebrate one anothers’ differences. On Sept. 18 the city celebrated their yearly Gainesville Latino Fest. This event is hosted in September every year in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month.

This event occurs at the square where mostly Hispanic businesses come out and put up their stands to promote themselves. There are also Hispanic dance groups performing throughout the day on the dance floor. The dance groups perform their traditional dance from their culture. 

“I find all the dances so interesting, I like how their outfits represent their culture and how they don’t stray far from the original costume their ancestors wore.” participant Kimberly Yanez said.

When the dancers are taking a break, bands will perform and people will start to dance. The songs they play are from whatever country they are representing but something all Hispanics have in common, is that everyone enjoys a good dance. 

The smaller businesses consisted of clothes boutiques, shoe boutiques, artists, and taco and ice cream stands. Other big businesses participated in the event as well such as Milton Martin Toyota, Cotrell, and Greene Ford Company. The food stands allowed people to try different Hispanic food that they may have not tried before. 

“I decided to try the Cuban food stand and got their empanadas with a drink I had never tried before and I am hooked. They are so good,” Yanez said. 

This event is hosted by The Hispanic Alliance of Gainesville and businesses who are a part of this alliance such as La Tapatia helped organize and promote this event. Yesenia Davila, daughter of the owner of La Tapatia, mentioned how this event is good for local businesses because there are so many Latino businesses that people do not know about and this event helps them get more exposure.

“I feel like these events should be done every year because it makes people proud of their culture.” -Yesenia Davila 

La Tapatia is a local business on Browns Bridge Rd that sells meat and produce. They also have a restaurant connected to their store. At this event they had their taco stand out from Noon until 9 p.m. where they were selling tacos, tortas, quesadillas, and flavored waters. This menu kept them busy the whole time they were there.

“We like participating because we like meeting new customers and seeing them enjoy our food,” said Davila.

Every year, this event represents the Hispanic culture very well and allows people to get an inside view of how different Latino Countries’ foods,dances, and culture are alike.