As National Latinx/é Heritage Month kicks into full swing, Colorado State University’s El Centro showcased floral festivities on the Lory Student Center Plaza Sept. 24 in honor of the historic Colombian Feria de Flores, or “Festival of Flowers.” The annual festival takes place in Medellín, Colombia, and has cultural roots going back to 1957, focusing on emancipation of enslaved people, gender equality and connection to the working poor.
In the recreation of the festival, El Centro and RamEvents collaborated to celebrate the diverse experiences of Latinx/é people on CSU’s campus. The event was an opportunity to understand a vibrant Colombian tradition and educate students on the cultural significance of the festival.
“It includes everyone else, and it kind of just brings people together,” said Gabriella Rodrigues, a marketing student at CSU.
Latinx/é Heritage Month is an annual celebration wherein people come together to celebrate the history and culture of Latinx/é members of the campus community. The event honoring Feria de Flores is one of many events that has been planned in honor of the month, which takes place from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 annually.
“I think it just builds a space on campus where students are seeing other folks, they’re meeting folks (and) they’re being exposed to different types of ideas, cultures (and) backgrounds.” –Julia Pratt, SLiCE assistant director for student government
The theme of this year’s series of celebrations is “Joy, Resilience, Futurism,” according to El Centro, and is intended to bring together perspectives that honor the past, present and ongoing work toward the future. In line with that broader theme, the Cultural Resource Center has put together a lineup of events that celebrate several different Latinx/é cultures to provide a wide scope of educational, cultural and historical perspectives.
Feria de Flores featured a bouquet-making stand with a large selection of vibrant flowers to choose from. The line of students waiting to make bouquets stretched nearly the width of The Plaza for the duration of the event. Students could be spotted around campus all day with flowers in hand or poking out of bags. The flowers spreading throughout campus as students made their way from the event to classes served as symbols of cultural pride, representation and joy.
Like all events on the calendar for El Centro’s Latinx/é Heritage Month celebrations, Feria de Flores was open to everyone and encouraged students to learn more about one of the rich traditions being honored.
“It’s an opportunity to reflect on our communities and who we are building community with on campus, what spaces we’re making for students, what opportunities we’re providing for them to be seen, to be heard (and) to share with others and to engage in that cross-cultural education,” said Julia Pratt, assistant director for student government at Student Leadership, Involvement & Community Engagement.
With festivities and educational opportunities occurring throughout the entirety of Latinx/é Heritage Month, students still have several opportunities to get involved and celebrate the Latinx/é members of the CSU and Fort Collins communities while learning about the diverse backgrounds that make up campus.
From 5-9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2, students can dance to live music on the LSC West Lawn during the annual Baile event. Following this, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, El Centro will jointly host a game night with the Pride Resource Center to honor the overlap of Latinx/é Heritage Month and LGBTQIA+ History Month, which begins Oct. 1 and ends Oct. 31. The game night will be held in El Centro’s office in the LSC from 4:30-5:30 p.m., and all are welcome to attend.
To close out the month, El Centro will host “Voces Sin Fronteras: Stories of Migration and Resilience,” a storytelling exhibit focused on the lived experiences of immigrants in the community, on Tuesday, Oct. 14. On Wednesday, Oct. 15, RamEvents will join forces with El Centro once more to host a soccer tournament in a four-team bracket, celebrating the most prominent sport in Latin America for the final night of Latinx/é Heritage Month.
“It’s easy to make friends when you’re all here for the same thing,” said Alondra Reyes, a first-year animal sciences student. This perspective reflected the broader purpose of Heritage Month, which is to create shared experiences that enable students from diverse backgrounds to connect.
In line with El Centro’s mission at CSU, the programming for Latinx/é Heritage Month is not limited to Latinx/é students; it is intentionally open and inclusive, inviting people from all communities to learn and celebrate together.
While the brightly colored petals of the flowers featured in Feria de Flores brought vibrant energy to The Plaza, it was the cultural significance of the event and the opportunity for students to learn something new that left a lasting impact on the community.
“Shout out El Centro; shout out to RamEvents for putting time and effort and resources into events like this,” Pratt said. “I think it just builds a space on campus where students are seeing other folks, they’re meeting folks (and) they’re being exposed to different types of ideas, cultures (and) backgrounds.”
Reach Hannah Parcells and Riley Paling at life@collegian.com or on social media @rmcollegian.
