KILLEEN, Texas — Hispanic Heritage Month takes place from Sep. 15- Oct. 15 across the country. In honor of the event, a local festival in Killeen aimed to celebrate the Hispanic community right here in Central Texas.
On Saturday, Sept. 16, the first-ever "Latin Fest" took place at the Killeen Special Events Center. It was in partnership with the non-profit organization, Creative Climb Academy. Lizbetthe Rodriguez is one of the Killeen residents who helped make the event possible.
"I thought, 'Why not? We haven't had this before. Let's celebrate it big!" explained Rodriguez. "We have all the flags celebrating everybody here, so we have all different cultures."
The Fest was a family-friendly event that featured plenty of entertainment including live music, games, raffles and a car show. There were also more than 50 vendors with roots from all over Latin America that showed up- including countries such as Puerto Rico, Columbia, Mexico, Haiti, Panama and many more.
Blanca Maynard was one of the vendors based out of Killeen. She owns the small business called Artesanias Panamenas by Blanca.
"It's good to have an event with many Latin countries so that everyone can get to know each other," said Maynard. "You get to meet people from different cultures, and you get to make more friends."
Rodriguez says she hopes to continue this event for years to come to bring people of all backgrounds together.
"We all bleed the same way, and why separate each other?" explained Rodriguez. "Let's just become one and help each other out is what it's all about."
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