Tifton, Ga—La Fiesta del Pueblo returned to Fullwood Park on Saturday, Sept. 26, bringing together members of the Tifton community for a day of celebrating Hispanic culture, food and traditions.
The 30th annual festival was held from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and offered free admission to the community. The event invited residents from across South Georgia to experience Hispanic culture though food, entertainment, and local businesses.
Many stage performances were held every hour of the festival, including mariachi bands, Cultura Latinx Club cultural dances, D. J’s and many more.
Several booths provided resources for the community, health information, and community service. Latino Community Fund (LCF) was one of the organizations that attended the festival; LCF is “a direct service provider, a member organization and philanthropic intermediary working to accelerate positive change and create opportunities for families, students, workers, parents and entrepreneurs.” At the festival, they provided information on the future elections going on in Georgia and provided resources for the Hispanic community.
The festival also awards the “Maria Guadalupe Cervantes” scholarship each year to Georgia resident(s). As stated on their website, “La Fiesta del Pueblo feeds the endowment each year by supporting education and raises funds for this scholarship from fees paid by vendors to set up booths at the festival to sell their wares.”
The scholarship was endowed to ABAC in 2004 in honor of Cervantes, who has been an educator in Mexico, and was not able to work as a teacher in the U.S. Cervantes lost her life in the tornado that struck Omega in 2000.
This year’s recipient was Evelin Selenne Del Angel. Del Angel heard about the scholarship from Dr. Franco, and helped her get connected to Dina Willis, the organizer of the annual festival. She is from Sparks, GA and throughout the years has shown significant dedication to helping her community whether it’s in her Catholic church in Moultrie, GA, Tifton Schools, festivals or helping the Latino Community Fund organization by contributing as a community navigator.
With being awarded the scholarship, Del Angel was part of the Fiesta de Pueblo committee. She helped the committee with being an announcer for the festival crowning “Miss Fiesta”, along with helping recruit girls for ‘Miss Fiesta”, and helping prepare them with their speeches. Del Angel is also a part of Cultura Latinx Club where she had the opportunity to be the dance coordinator for the cultural dances the club participates in each year.
ABAC’s Cultura Latinx Club (CLC) participates in the festival each year by being a vendor to help fund their club. CLC is a nonprofit club that helps unify the ABAC community through social and cultural and academic awareness.
For more information about La Fiesta de Pueblo, visit their website at www.lafiestadepueblo.com and for more information about the Cultura Latinx Club, email Dr. Franco at amartinezfranco@abac.edu