Hispanic festival honors roots

Come for the food, the music or the piñatas, everything Hispanic will be celebrated this Saturday at the Hispanic Heritage Festival in Harmon Park.

“This is a very family-friendly event, there is nonstop entertainment all day,” said Cynthia Vigil, who is a member of the sponsoring organization the Spokane Hispanic Business Professional Association and of this year’s planning committee. “It’s the third year we are having the festival, but my first on the planning committee.”

Vigil said the biggest worry this year isn’t the weather, but that construction on nearby Market Street will deter festival goers.

“We just hope they can find us,” Vigil said.

The festival is celebrated in conjunction with National Hispanic Heritage Month.

“We celebrate the achievements of Hispanic Americans, not just people from Mexico, but from other Central American countries as well,” Vigil said.

The festival features live music all day, said Vigil, by groups such as Mariachi Estrella de Mexico from Wenatchee and folk dance groups like Los Balidores de Sol from Yakima.

Hispanic artists will be joining the festival, too, and there are many children’s activities all day.

“Of course, we have piñatas for the kids, but there are other things going on, too,” Vigil said, about the free festival entertainment.

Three Mexican food vendors will be selling traditional Hispanic foods, and for those not so keen on enchiladas and burritos the Kiwanis will be selling hotdogs.

“We feature a lot of talented people both locally and from outside Spokane,” Vigil said, “and I hear the weather is going to be gorgeous. It will be a great day.”