Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
LINCOLN — Empanadas instead of hamburgers. Tamales instead of corn dogs. Salvadoran bread pudding instead of funnel cakes.
The corn-fed image of the Nebraska State Fair took on the flavor of masa Sunday, as Lincoln’s El Centro de las Américas played host to the fair’s annual celebration of Hispanic cultures.
People with roots in over a dozen different Latin countries showed off their food, dance and handicrafts during the Festival de las Américas. Places represented included Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras and Spain.
Pepe Herrero, a native of Spain who moved to Lincoln five years ago after a 20-year stint as a lawyer in Washington, D.C., said the festival is a way to celebrate the richness of the Hispanic influence in Nebraska and in the U.S.
He said it is not surprising that Nebraska’s Hispanic people are interested in the State Fair because many are involved in the agricultural industry, whether working on farms or in meat- packing or poultry plants.
The festival opened with an emotional rendering of the Star Spangled Banner by Omaha teen Alexis Robles.
“Only in America do you see first-generation immigrants so embracing the American dream,” Herrero said. “There isn’t a ‘European dream,’ and you don’t see immigrants in Europe singing ‘God Save the Queen.’”
Ever Preciado, born in Guatemala, moved to Lincoln four years ago from California to open a restaurant. He also runs a business providing photography, catering and decorations for weddings and other social events.
“I love the State Fair,” he said. “I bring my three children, ages 2 to 9. It’s a treat for them — a big event before the snow comes.”
Preciado said at first he thought coming to Nebraska was a mistake — he disliked the cold weather and being a minority in a small city. But he came to appreciate the educational system, the easy traffic and the lack of violence.
“Once you get to know the people, it makes me think I made the right decision,” he said.
Marien Ruiz, executive director of the Centro de las Américas, said the State Fair event replaces the group’s annual festival in September at a Lincoln park.
“The State Fair asked us if we would take over their previous Fiesta Latina,” she said. “We thought why don’t we combine the events and do something really, really big?”
Centro de Las Américas is Lincoln’s only Hispanic community center. Founded in 1982, it provides literacy, computer, English and high school diploma classes, along with workplace interpreter services, family services and mental health programs. The center served 8,000 people in 2008.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9581, leslie.reed@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
