With music, food and dancing, the fourth annual Viva Beaumont Hispanic Heritage Festival aimed to bring Southeast Texans together.
BEAUMONT, Texas — The City of Beaumont kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month Sunday night, bringing together people from across Southeast Texas for the fourth annual Viva Beaumont Hispanic Heritage Festival.
“I don’t know how to explain how much I love celebrating my roots,” Little Miss Mexican Heritage Jenica Triana said.
With music, food and dancing, the fourth annual Viva Beaumont Hispanic Heritage Festival aimed to bring Southeast Texans together.
Jenica Triana, 11, was this year’s Little Miss Mexican Culture recipient from the Mexican Cultural Association of Port Arthur, and she came to perform a folk dance.
“I’m happy to be able to bring smiles to people’s faces,” Triana said.
The Hispanic Heritage Festival shines an important light on the Hispanic community in Southeast Texas.
“The Hispanic Heritage Festival is a very important event for the City as it brings local residents together to celebrate a vibrant aspect of our community and culture,” said Emily Wheeler, Event Services Director for the City of Beaumont.
The event featured a variety of activities for the whole family to enjoy, including a live mariachi band, lucha libre wrestlers, traditional food and even a human crane game.
“We live this all year round, we eat this all year round, but this is our opportunity, this is the month where we share it with everyone and we don’t hesitate,” Ines Alvidrez said.
Alvidres set up a booth where people could help paint canvases.
“We’re going to put a guitar and a cactus. We want to welcome Lamar by adding a cardinal. And we’re going to welcome nature with the moon and the sun and we’re going to put a big Fiesta flag on top because it’s Fiesta,” Alvidrez said.
But Alvidres’ favorite symbol is in the very center of the painting.
“Anything made in Mexico has big letters saying ‘Hecho En Mexico,’ so I decided to call mine ‘Hecho En Beaumont, Texas,'” Alvidrez said.
The goal is to deepen understanding of Hispanic culture.
“If you really want to learn about our culture, come to these events; you’ll learn a lot,” Triana says.