Fiestas Patrias will be held from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, and from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19, at the North River Street Park and adjacent parking lot south of the park, located along River and Vine streets.  Admission to the event is free.

A wide genre of Latin music will be performed on the main stage both days to coincide with a children’s amusement area.  Food vendors will be serving up dishes catering to many culinary delights from Latin America to traditional festival food dishes like hamburgers, barbecue and corn on the cob.  Local businesses also will man booths with offerings for festival patrons.

A parade will step off at noon Sept. 19 at the corner of River and Benton streets, heading to Broadway Avenue, Galena Boulevard, Stolp Avenue and Downer Place before ending at Middle Avenue.  The parade program begins at 11:15 a.m. in front of the Paramount Theatre, 8 E. Galena Blvd.

The event is being sponsored by the Aurora Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (AHCC) in conjunction with the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board. 

People interested in becoming a Fiestas Patrias event volunteer, vendor or sponsor, or for more information, call AHCC Executive Director Norma Vazquez at (630) 264-2422.

August 11, 2010

6-8 pm

La Quinta de Los Reyes

36 E. New York Street

Aurora, IL 60505

Please come and learn more about the event, how to become a sponsors and get more details about volunteering for the event!

Festival will honor the collective Independence Days of various Latin American countries.

Aurora, July 22, 2010: The Aurora Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board is pleased to announce Fiestas Patrias Aurora 2010, a celebration of Latin American heritage and culture.

…The two-day music festival will take place in downtown Aurora on Saturday, September 18th from noon to 10 pm and Sunday, September 19th from noon until 8 pm. Reestablishing the Fiestas Patrias festival is timely considering the bicentennial anniversary of Mexico and several other Latin American countries’ declarations of independence from Spain in 1810. Fiestas Patrias Aurora 2010 invites the community to celebrate and recognize this event.

The festival series will be staged at North River Street Park and the parking lot immediately south of the park. Main stage entertainment will take place throughout Saturday and Sunday. Various genres of music will be performed, including banda, mariachi, cumbia, tejano, norteno, and rock. A children’s amusement area will be featured on both days.

Vendors will provide booths specializing in festive foods and many different culinary delights from Latin America, along with traditional festival food fare of hamburgers, Bar-B-Que, corn on the cob, hot wings and other delights. Additionally, local businesses will provide booths with offerings for festival patrons.

The parade steps off at 12 noon, Sunday, September 19th at the corner of River Street and Benton Street; then to Broadway, Galena Boulevard, Stolp Avenue, Downer Place, and ending at Middle Avenue. The parade program begins at 11:15 am in front of the Paramount Theatre.

Admission to Fiestas Patrias Aurora 2010 is free to all ages. The Aurora Police Department will coordinate the festival’s security efforts, and volunteers will make up the vast majority of the event staff. Anyone interested in becoming a Fiestas Patrias Aurora 2010 event volunteer, vendor, or sponsor, or for more event information, should contact Norma Vazquez, Executive Director at (630) 264-2422.

About the Aurora Hispanic Chamber of Commerce:

For over 18 years, the Aurora Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has been the leading regional advocate for the economic and civic interests of the Hispanic business community. The Chamber’s mission is to facilitate access to resources which promotes economic growth in the Latino Marketplace.

About the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board:

The City of Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board is a non-partisan advisory board that is community-based and funded by the City of Aurora. The Advisory Board recognizes diversity throughout the City of Aurora and aims to educate the public about the history of Hispanics that helped shape the City.

The neighborhood, roughly bounded by Lake Street, Liberty Street, North Avenue, and East Avenue, has been designated a Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development since 1999. One consequence of that designation has been the availability of funding to local businesses. The loan program, Section 108, has led to jobs being created through the establishment or remodeling of a medical building, restaurant, florist, and daycare facility. The city has been working on updating the plan, “To best leverage federal dollars as we go forward in revitalizing the area”, according to Karen Christensen, Aurora’s Manager of Neighborhood Redevelopment.

The meetings, which will be held June 3, June 29, and July 22, are designed to collect direct feedback from residents and businesses in the area as to how they want their neighborhood to look, the needs they believe need to be met, and suggestions into its long term future. An advisory board consisting of representatives from Waubonsee Community College, the Quad County Urban League, East Aurora School District 131, the Aurora Economic Development Commission, Family Focus, Rebuilding Together Aurora, the Aurora Regional and Aurora Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, Aurora Downtown, and Aurora Township has been meeting since January to begin updating the original plan.

Christensen said they have contracted with the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) to assist with garnering input from residents and businesses in the revitalization area. She said that ideally, attendees will go to all three meetings as they are meant to build off of one another.

For example, at the first meeting, CMAP will present demographics and census information in the target area and compare it to similar information in the city as a whole. They will then ask a series of questions to attendees as to how they want their neighborhood to look and suggestions for the future. The answers of all attendees will be recorded electronically and used during the second meeting which will feature an MPC Developer Panel. The members of that panel will work directly with residents and business owners to explain what may be feasible from an economic development point of view including ideas for new housing, retail, or mixed use development. The third meeting will be an analysis of the attendees’ views along with the ideas of the developers that will be integrated into a final plan that will be submitted to HUD in August.

“Because this area is designated as an NRSA, we may be able to take advantage of other federal programs that will lead to housing and economic redevelopment much like the Section 108 Loan”, said Christensen. “These meetings present excellent opportunities for those who live and work in the neighborhood to have a stake in its future.”

All of the meetings will be from 6-8 p.m. at the Fred Rodgers Community Center, 501 College Av., Room 315.

Jocelyn Celaya, 5, of Aurora waits for her group to perform at the El Dia los Ninos (Children’s Day) event in Aurora on Saturday. Jocelyn is with the Mexican dance ensemble Ballet Folklorico Quetzalcoatl and just took up dancing three months ago.

Hundreds of families from in and around Aurora gathered under gray skies Saturday to pay tribute to their children.

The ninth annual “El Dia de los Niños,” or Children’s Day, featured food, live music, dancing and plenty of games and activities for the little ones. The Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board hosted the event.

Children’s Day is based on a Latin American holiday designed to uplift and celebrate children and family values.

Diana Torres, chair of the advisory board, said those same goals drive the Aurora event.

“Families are so critical to the Latino culture,” she said. “So we wanted to create something here that would bring parents and children together.”

Though the event is geared toward Aurora’s sizable Hispanic population, it is open to all. Torres said Saturday that she was happy to see more non-Hispanics at the festival than ever before.

“I love seeing that,” she said. “It shows that something like this can become an event for the entire community, not just one part of it.”

One change to the event this year was that mechanical carnival rides were replaced by activities that emphasized fitness: a climbing wall, a jump-rope area, strength games. The board made the change in light of growing concerns about childhood obesity across the country.

Six-year-old Susan Aguilar of Aurora didn’t seem to mind. She was all smiles after a round of jump-rope.

“I can’t wait to do it again,” she said. “I’m going to try to jump even higher.”

In recognition of the cultural importance of children and families, the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board (AHHAB) hosts an annual event known as El Día de los Niños, or Children’s Day. Since 2001, el Día de los Niños has been a very special holiday celebrated throughout Latin America where families, schools and communities come together to value and uplift the children in the community.

This annual AHHAB event will provide activities and entertainment to the Aurora community free of charge. The main stage schedule includes: Aurora Family Focus theater and dance groups (1:20 to 1:50 p.m.), traditional Ballet Folklorico dance troupe (2:00 to 3:00 p.m.), Radio Disney AM 1300 (3:00 to 4:30 p.m.), and the Aurora Rebels Cheerleaders, the 2009 Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympic Games Gold medalists and National Champions (4:30 to 5:00 p.m.). There will also be performances by local Aurora youth in a “Talent Showcase.”

The Children’s Area will include the following activities: Moon Jumps, Clowns, Bookmobile, Windjammer Swing, Giant Slide, Hi-Striker, Wacky Trikes, Climbing Wall, Obstacle courses, and an appearance by McGruff. Organizations will also be available to provide information to the community, including: Aunt Martha’s, Aurora Public Library, Aurora Township, Aurora Fire Department, El Mexicano, Mexican Village, Two Rivers, Aurora Shalom Ministries, Phillips Park, Aurora Family Focus and VNA. Food and non-alcoholic beverages will also be available for purchase. 

The City of Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board is a group that is community-based and funded by the City of Aurora. Our mission is to serve as a bridge between the Hispanic community and all other communities in the City of Aurora. The Advisory Board recognizes diversity throughout the City of Aurora and therefore makes a conscious effort to be all-inclusive. Thank you to the following sponsors of the 2010 El Día De Los Niños: Sprint, Harris Bank, Marquette Bank, HOY, Pepsi, and Latinos Income Tax.

 For more information, please contact Diana Torres, Chair of the Board, at: torres.diana@gmail.com or 630-800-8982.

For more information call 630-631-9270

Arroyo will be honored at the Board’s annual Community Breakfast on Thursday, January 28, at 7:30 AM, at Long Island Sound Banquets, 1920 E. New York Street, Aurora. Tickets are $15 per person and go toward the Board’s Scholarship Fund that recognizes the community’s accomplished youth from Kindergarten through the university level. 

Each year, the Board solicits recommendations from the Aurora community to identify leaders, athletes, artists, writers and others to honor the legacy of the late Pete Perez. The recipient is selected for their outstanding leadership and impact on the Hispanic community. 

Family Focus Aurora is a not-for-profit organization providing immigration services, adult education, family services, child development, after-school programs and outreach and information for the community. In addition, Arroyo is the co-founder and first president of Federacion de Clubes Michoacanos in Illinois and has also served on multiple community boards including East Aurora School District 131, the Michoacan Government Committee and is an auxiliary member for Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Extranjero (IME).  Arroyo was nominated by Club San Pedro of Aurora. 

Pete Perez was a highly respected Aurora police officer who was named the Aurora Exchange Club’s Policeman of the Year in 1966 and was the first recipient of the Hector Jordan Lifetime Achievement Award by the Hispanic Illinois State Law Enforcement Association in 1990.  After his retirement, Perez continued to serve the community on the Kane County Merit Commission, which conducts testing for correctional officers and sheriff’s deputies. 

The 2009 AHHAB honoree was Jesse “the Law” Torres, coach and mentor for the Jesse “the Law” Torres Boxing gym.

The Community Breakfast will also feature an awards ceremony to recognize local students who participated in a coloring contest (K-2), poster contest (3-5), and essay contest (6-8).  Scholarships will also be presented to high school seniors and students already enrolled in colleges and universities. 

Tickets can be purchased by contacting the City’s Special Events Office at 630-844-4731 or by e-mailing specialevents@aurora-il.org.  Credit Card payments will be accepted only at City Hall, 44 E. Downer Place.