They’re planning a special celebration for Hispanic Heritage Month to coincide with this year’s Big Red Apple Festival.
The celebration will take place on September 24th at the Historical Society’s building and adjacent Cornelia Library/Skate Park on Chattahoochee Street.
The event “will expand the boundaries of the festival and celebrate the Hispanic cultures that we have in town,” says the Historical Society’s Audrey Davenport.
Students from the Hispanic Organization Promoting Education (HoPE) are assisting with the effort. The overall aim is to celebrate diversity and promote inclusion within the local community.
“I’ve been living here for around 12 years now and as a Hispanic, Latino and Mexican, I sometimes do feel underrepresented,” Habersham Central High School’s HoPE chapter president Emily Pahuamba told Cornelia commissioners during their August 2 meeting. She added, “I’m hoping this festival brings our communities together and shows the importance of working together and showing this county a bit of the Hispanic cultures that are here in Habersham county.”
WATCH Aug. 2, 2022, Cornelia City Commission meeting
Organizers are still working out the details for September’s event. It will serve as a springboard for the Historical Society’s 50th anniversary celebration next March at Piedmont University.
“We’d like to involve as many communities and cultures as we can,” says Davenport, adding, that she’s proud of Pahuamba for taking a leadership role.
“Part of what we want to do with the 50th year celebration is to have young people and young leaders help us with this event to help define, design it, and digitize it.”
Davenport asked the city commission to appoint a liaison to ensure the city is represented at the celebration in March. She also asked commissioners for their continued support as the Historical Society pursues “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
“To my knowledge, that is an initiative that the city is looking to do, to reach out to the Hispanic community, and we are going to lead the way in that effort and we appreciate your support in that,” she said.
