MONMOUTH, Ill. — It will be an evening of food, music, dancing, games and more at the third annual Hispanic Heritage Festival hosted by United Way of Greater Warren County.
The event is free to attend and will run from 6 p.m. to midnight within the first block of South 1st Street in Monmouth, IL.
There will be live music from Quad City-based Tamborazo La Magdalena, Quad Cities Ballet Folklorico and DJ Joseph & Friends, a popular local Hispanic DJ with an accompanying LED robot and bobble head dancers.
Other activities include Monmouth's proclamation for Hispanic Heritage Month (which will be read in both English and Spanish), dancing and children's activities. There will also be food and drinks for sale.
All of the vendors will be from the local Hispanic community. The United Way of Greater Warren County says none of the vendors were charged a fee for the festival. That intentional move was to encourage vendors to share goods and services while also learning more about the ins and outs of local business. Each vendor will also keep all of the proceeds they make from the festival.
The only money that will be kept by festival organizers comes from the cash bar. 100% of those funds will be disbursed to the local Hispanic community. Members of the community will lead the process of determining how the money is spent.
United Way of Greater Warren County Executive Director, Jeannie Weber, says Group O founder, the late Bob Ontiveros, would be thrilled to see how big the event has grown.
"He was a mentor to me when I lived in the QC," Weber wrote in an email. "He had recently started Mercado on Fifth and encouraged me to do this here. The first year of our Festival, he was a silent donor. He died before our first Festival. Since that time, I remember him during our announcements. His reach to people was pretty incredible. I miss him very much. He would be so happy about this."
Sponsors for this year's festival include Smithfield Foods, G&M Distributors, Dave's Auto Body, Midwest Bank and Norris Sound and Lighting. United Way of Greater Warren County also thanks the City of Monmouth and the Monmouth Police Department and auxiliary who will be present at the event.
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