Photos: Fiesta on Wells Avenue celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month
The annual “Fiesta on Wells” celebration took place Sunday on Wells Avenue, honoring Hispanic Heritage Month, a month-long celebration between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, 2023.
The fiesta featured various performances, art, information booths and vendors offering food, crafts and traditional items, like clothing and jewelry representing Latin arts and culture.
On hand for the celebration were several community organizations providing information and assistance for Hispanic residents in the Reno area. About 26% of the region’s population is Latino or Hispanic, according to U.S. Census data.
Service and educational organizations distributed information and assisted with services like voter registration and health care information. Authentic food and drinks were available, and traditional bands and dancers performed songs and dances for the public.
Ivet Contreras, representing the Nevada Child Care Fund, said the event was amazing, calling Wells Avenue an “important and emblematic place for Latinos.”
“We see Latino businesses everywhere and how they have grown,” she said. “Shutting down Wells and having this wonderful event to celebrate our businesses, culture and entrepreneurship is amazing.”
Contreras’s sentiments were echoed throughout the event by many of the vendors.
Yajaria Medina was selling authentic Western hats and clothing at the event. Specializing in goods produced in Mexico, her hats, shirts and dresses are all embroidered, printed and made by hand. Medina explained that the event was important to her because she “liked to bring more culture into Reno.”
She said the event allowed “small businesses this year that are still recovering from [COVID-19] to express themselves and show what they have.”
The next scheduled event by Latino Arte and Culture is the fourth Day of the Dead Festival on Oct. 29, 2023, at Wells Avenue and East Pueblo Street.
