Latinx Groups Kick Off Heritage Month at Arcata Redwood Park Sept. 15

September is National Hispanic Heritage Month and in Humboldt County students and community members are organizing a communal event with live mariachi music, raffles and food to kick off the celebration of Latinx culture.

Convivio de Bienvenida will be at the Arcata Redwood Park on Sunday, Sept. 15 from noon to 4 p.m. El Centro, formerly known as the Latinx Center for Academic Excellence, along with Equity Arcata, Student Housing Advocate Alliance, Multicultural Center, YES House and the Academic and Career Center are sponsoring the event to help connect students with the Latinx community outside of HSU.

Fernando Paz, the coordinator for El Centro, said that the event is to welcome students and commemorate the start of Hispanic Heritage Month.

“We are going to have a series of events that recognize the shared historical and cultural roots that many people who are served by our center connect with,” Paz says.

Art studio major Kaia Santana is the Events Developer for El Centro and will be the master of ceremonies for Convivio. Santana said that it’s going to be a great way to build community and that she hopes that many people come.

Anh Bui is a graduate student working on environmental studies and also does Hispanic Serving Institute work.

As part of her job, she is helping to organize Convivio. Bui says that HSU is an HSI, but that it’s generic and that being categorized as an HSI means that more work should be done.

The communal event will have live mariachi music, raffles and food to kick off the celebration of Latinx culture.

“We can do more,” Bui says. “HSU is a Hispanic Serving Institute but we haven’t done the serving part yet.” 

The event is part of the work that she is excited to do and wants to accomplish. 

“The whole point of it is to get the community members part of it,” Bui says.