FORT DODGE, Iowa — With National Hispanic Heritage Month still underway, the annual Afro-Latino Festival is set to begin in Fort Dodge Wednesday.
The event begins at 8 a.m. Wednesday in the Student Resource Center on the Iowa Central Community College Fort Dodge campus.
2023 marks the fifth year of the festival at Iowa Central. Festival founder Andrea Estling, a Spanish instructor at Iowa Central, sees the event as a way to highlight the diversity within the Latino community.
"It has been great," Estling said. "This event started with only 40 students from my Spanish classes. And the main goal was to make the awareness of having Spanish classes and importance of those Spanish classes in our community."
Though the festival started with humble beginnings, Estling says the 2022 festival garnered hundreds of attendees, including community members and students from local high schools.
50 different countries will be represented at the Afro-Latino Festival through educational posters and projects.
Food and games will begin just before 10 a.m., while performances kick off at 10:30 a.m. with Son y Sabor Colombiano. Other acts on the entertainment lineup include Son Peruchos, Mambo Soul Dance Company and Sones de mi Tierra.
In addition, attendees can enjoy authentic food such as pozole, burritos and sopas.
Find more information about the Afro-Latino Festival here.