Middletown’s 2nd Annual Hispanic Heritage Festival

This event is designed to connect Spanish-speaking residents with local resources and services, while also being a celebration of Hispanic culture that everyone can take part in. In addition to 20 booths with resources, there will be music, food trucks, retail vendors, dancing, and more.

The featured entertainment headliner is a mariachi group called Garibaldi Mariachi, who will be at the festival from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Anna Karen, a singer who in Spanish is known as La Dama del Pueblo, will also be performing, as well as Panamanian folklore dance group Que Bonito es Panama. There will also be salsa dance lessons provided by Lali Chavez.

Additionally, one of the biggest attractions last year will be back this year, the Los Toxicos Car Show. Cars lit up and filled with sound systems that filled the streets with music.

The origins of the Hispanic Heritage Festival date back to a former employee at Atrium Medical Center and current LUMO member, Alexandra G-Knight, who saw a need for resources and information in Spanish while working at the hospital. She then approached the city regarding an event.

“I saw that the Spanish-speaking population was growing at a rapid pace in Middletown,” G-Knight says. “My meeting with them (city officials) was for the city to realize that the population was growing and it would help people assimilate into Middletown if they knew in their native Spanish where to pay their electric bill, how to sign up for services, where they could get their vaccine records, etc. These are things we native English speakers don’t realize how difficult it can be.”

The City of Middletown agreed. In partnership with LUMO, the first festival was a hit in 2023.