Like New Orleans, Latino/a culture is shaped by a mixture of natives and migrants, Automatic Lifetime Membership in the Beans ‘n’Rice Club, and a commitment to dancing with rhythm. Revel in shared commonalities and histories during Hispanic Heritage Month, a month-long offering of everything anyone of any background in New Orleans loves year-round: events brimful of music with beats, food with flavor, laughter, lagniappe, neighborly love and cultural pride.

Our top HHM pick? Vecinos, the outdoor “Celebration Between Neighbors” extravaganza and health fair in Mid-City, the ideal neighborhood for lovin’ your neighbors. Get health screenings and gather resources from 50+ nonprofits and health providers –free! – then shimmy that healthy self over and make friends dancing to salsa, reggaetón, garifuna, and steel bands, joining soccer, basketball or volleyball games, or chowing down on regional cuisine. Lack the “move with rhythm” DNA? Absorb the beauty of ballet folklórico from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Columbia or sample lessons offered by visiting bands.

We call New Orleans “the northernmost Caribbean city,” but often folks forget our deep connections to the Spanish-speaking countries of the southern hemisphere. Did you know NOLA was the nineteenth century capital of U.S. Spanish-language print production? Or that Don Andrés of Spain, not Walt Disney, funded St. Louis Cathedral? Or that Puritans did not choose the paint colors in the Marigny? Now if that’s not something to celebrate, we don’t know what is.

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Cuba NOLA

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LatiNola
Hispanic Heritage Month 2010: A Montage

Fund Development Officer/Grant Writer
ASI Federal Credit Union