Sunday, August 21, 2011
Photo
The area’s first Spanish Heritage Festival in more than 20 years took place Saturday on West Federal Street, downtown Youngstown. Above left, Anita Lyn enjoys music at the event. The event highlighted Hispanic culture with ethnic foods, music and various special attractions. West Federal Street between North Phelps and Market streets was closed to traffic.
By Elise Franco
Youngstown
The sights, smells and sounds of Hispanic culture filled the heart of downtown.
Saturday afternoon kicked off the Spanish Heritage Festival in downtown Youngstown that featured authentic food, dancing, music and souvenirs, said Vicky Rivera, festival committee president.
“We haven’t had one here in at least 20 years,” she said. “Our intent was to bring it back. ... Our ultimate goal is to get a scholarship using the funds from the festival.”
Rivera said she was pleased with the crowd turnout and that everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
“It shows that you don’t have to go to Cleveland or Columbus for this kind of thing,” she said. “We had local bands and local vendors.”
Melissa Howard, of Youngstown, who is Puerto Rican, said she came to the festival with her family to enjoy the authentic culture and food.
“The Spanish culture is so rich, and there’s so much to it,” she said. “It’s a very happy culture, and the people here in Youngstown need to see that.”
Though the festival spanned only a small portion of West Federal Street, Rivera said the committee has plans to expand next year.
“We want to make it a two-day event,” she said. “We’ll expand it and make it larger. We already have vendors telling us they want to participate but didn’t know we were doing it.”
Sabbrina Landers of Youngstown was able to enjoy the festival while working at a booth for the Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio. Landers said she would like to see the festival return next year.
“There aren’t a whole lot of things around here that explain the Spanish population,” she said. “This invites people to see what the ethnicity is all about.”
Though it was smaller than other similar downtown festivals, Landers said it held its own.
“The people here were a little nicer than some of the others I’ve been to,” she said. “They really make you feel welcome.”