A celebration of community, heritage and the growing diversity of Naperville drew families to Central Park over the weekend during the city’s fifth annual Hispanic Heritage Festival.
Festival’s origins
The Sister Cities Commission started the event in 2021 during the COVID pandemic as a way to safely bring people together while also paying tribute to two of Naperville’s three sister cities: Cancun and Pátzcuaro, México.
Connecting cultures
Families enjoyed food, music, art, and other activities as they honored and learned about Hispanic culture.
“I feel like it’s a bridge from the Latino community to the non-Latino community to pique the curiosity of this culture,” said Maria Rodriguez DeGioia, member of Naperville’s Sister Cities. “You walk by, you hear the music, and then you get introduced to it, not realizing what’s going on, all of sudden you just see that you have a love for something like this.”
“Sharing the food, the music and a good time with someone from a different culture has really opened a lot of people’s eyes from any stereotypes they may have had,” said Patty Gustin, Chairman of the Sister Cities Foundation. “We’re all human beings but we all come from a different place so we might as well embrace each other and learn about each other.”
A surprise celebration
During the festival, Gustin surprised Naper Settlement’s Executive Director Rena Tamayo Calebrese and Sister Cities board member Kent Marcado by leading the audience in a singing of Happy Birthday for the two (in both English and Spanish).
Gustin says plans are already in the works to expand next year’s festival to be more international, including culture from Naperville’s third sister city, Nitra, Slovakia.
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