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Join us for our first annual Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration at Riney B. Park on Saturday, September 23, from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm.
We’re teaming up with the Jessamine County Migrant Education Program for this celebratory afternoon of music, dance, live animals, family fun, and activities. All are welcome!
The band Appalatin will be headlining the event with a concert starting at 4:00 pm. They are based out of Kentucky, and their music is inspired by their Appalachian and Latin American heritage.
They use all acoustic instrumentation, featuring classical and steel string guitars, mandolin, harmonica, charango, congas, bongos, pan flutes, and more.
The schedule is as follows:
- 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm: Family fun and activities from JCPL and Migrant Education
- 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm: Berryman Farm will feature alpacas and llamas
- 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm: Food trucks
- 3:00 pm – 3:45 pm: The Salsa Center will offer dance instruction and a performance
- 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm: Appalatin
About the Migrant Education Program
The Migrant Education Program offers services to families and youth who have moved to Jessamine County within the past three years seeking seasonal or temporary agricultural work.
The program assists year-round, offering a summer camp that serves both in-person and homeschool students. The camp is for kindergarten through high school students and their parents and is designed to prepare students and families for the upcoming school year.
Services provided or coordinated through the program include:
- Tutoring
- School registration
- School supplies
- Online courses
- Food
- Clothing
- Medical referrals
For more information, check out the Kentucky Department of Education’s website for the Migrant Education Program and the Jessamine County Migrant Education’s Facebook Page.
About Our Partnership
The library regularly partners with Migrant Education, offering activities, art projects, library card sign ups, literacy programs, bilingual storytimes, and library materials.
Janet Hodges has worked with the Migrant Education Program since 2008, starting out as a recruiter and now serving as a coordinator.
According to Hodges, “the library’s partnership… has helped us to achieve our program goals by collaborating and providing activities for our migrant students during the school year and the summertime.”
Hodges says the partnership has allowed “a small library in our migrant office, where parents can have easy access to bilingual books. By participating and attending the library community events, this partnership has helped us to bring our migrant families together.”
Last year, Outreach Librarian Peri Conley collaborated with Hodges on a National Hispanic Heritage Month program at the library. The event was designed in Spanish-English bilingual with games and activities celebrating Hispanic culture and Hispanic Americans who have made positive impacts in the U.S.
Participants made papel picado, Guatemalan style clothespin Worry Dolls, and joined in trivia games about famous folks from Pura Belpré to Roberto Clemente.
They also learned cool facts like the importance of September 15th, during which Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica all celebrate Independence.
Books Honoring Hispanic Heritage Month
Click on the covers below to see them in our catalog. We urge you to explore these materials any month of the year!