Emporia State University will be kicking off a month-long series of events celebrating Hispanic heritage Thursday.
The university will host its annual Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff event in Kellogg Circle from 5 to 8 pm. The event will include live music, food, dancing and a jalapeno eating contest.
Various local organizations will also be on hand for the event including the Emporia Arts Center, Emporia Public Library and Emporia Spanish Speakers, which recently received 501 c3 status. The event will serve as a fundraiser for the university’s Latino Legacy Scholarship and will begin a series of campus events that will run through October 15.
Thursday’s activities will serve as an unofficial lead-in to Saturday’s Fiesta at Las Casitas Park hosted by the Las Casitas Association. KVOE’s Nuestra Musica Radio Show host Vic Rodriguez joined KVOE’s Morning Show recently to preview the event which is returning after a seven-year layoff.
Rodriguez tells KVOE News after such a lengthy hiatus, it was “time to do it again.”
The fiesta will include music, food, children’s activities, history lessons on Las Casitas from local Emporians, a hot links eating contest and much more. The Fiesta will run from noon to 6 pm Saturday. For more information on either event, visit Emporia.edu or find the Las Casitas association on Facebook.
