HCC to Host Latinx Fiesta on Oct. 1 for Hispanic Heritage Month

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College (HCC) will continue its celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month with a Latinx Fiesta on Wednesday, Oct. 1.

The annual event will run from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on the second floor of the HCC Campus Center, featuring food, music, and art. HCC faculty, staff, and students representing some 20 South American, Latin American, and Caribbean countries will have tables highlighting their individual cultures.

Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated nationally each year from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 to recognize the cultural and historical influences of Hispanic Americans. On the HCC campus, it is called Latinx Heritage Month.

Latinx Heritage Month activities at HCC also include the following:

• Oct. 2, 11 a.m.: Latinx Film Festival: Todavia Estamos Aqui (We Are Still Here), a student-made documentary about the lives and experiences of the residents of Barrio Rucio in Puerto Rico and their historic resistance to government intrusion (Campus Center, cafeteria).

• Oct. 2, 1:30 p.m.: Froteria. Guests will enjoy fried treats and play the lottery with members of El Centro and HCC’s ALANA Men in Motion programs (Campus Center 224).

• Oct. 9, 11 a.m.: Latinx Film Festival: Dolores, a documentary about American activist, feminist, and labor leader Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union with Cesar Chavez (Campus Center, cafeteria).

Oct. 14, 11 a.m.: “Our Stories, Our Voices, Our Lens,” a conversation with local Latinx ‘artivists,’ talking about how art contributes to the preservation and celebration of history and culture (Campus Center, second floor, outside El Centro).