Unity In Action’s Loteria event kicks off ‘Celebrando Siouxland’ Festival

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (KTIV) - Wednesday, a local non-profit’s annual festival helped Siouxlanders celebrate Hispanic and Latino culture.

Unity In Action hosted “Celebrando Siouxland.” This is the third year for the festival, which lets the community come together and celebrate the area’s strong Hispanic and Latino culture.

This year, the event fell during Hispanic Heritage Month, and a national community-building event called “Welcoming Week.”

Wednesday’s big event was “Loteria,” a game of chance, like bingo. It shows how much this event has grown over the last three years.

”Last year, doing all of the work and then thinking, ‘man, I hope people show up’ because non-profits have a track record of putting on events and people not coming,” said Rogelio Rodriguez, Community Organizer for Unity in Action. “And so, this time last year we did Loteria here and we had to keep people out. We didn’t have the space for everybody, so I think that was my favorite part.”

Unity In Action’s goal, every year, is to help the community recognize and celebrate Hispanic and immigrant culture in Siouxland.

“It’s long over due for the Siouxland area to really embrace that we have a very diverse community. We have a very diverse group of people here and we are making really big leaps in business, in all aspects of life, and so we want to celebrate that,” said Rodriguez.

Local Hispanic and Latino high school students will also be recognized and awarded scholarships at the end of the festival.

The festivities continue through Sunday, September 17th, 2023.

On Friday, a parade will take place on Dakota Avenue starting at 6:00p.m. After the parade, the Dible Soccer Complex will host a drive-in screening of “McFarland USA.”

The soccer complex will also host the festival on Sunday from Noon to 9:00p.m. They’ll have food trucks and live music.

For more information about the festival and how to support Unity In Action’s future events, click here.

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