Each year, Hispanic Heritage Month offers a time to honor the history, culture, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino communities across the United States. Spanning from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the month celebrates the rich traditions and lasting impact of people with roots in Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
In Glen Cove, the month will be marked by a community celebration in Village Square on Oct. 4, hosted by the North Shore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The event will run from 5 to 7:30 p.m., and feature live music, cultural displays and performances designed to celebrate and highlight Hispanic traditions.
Chamber President Connie Pinilla said the celebration “allows our culture to highlight our talent and our cultural costumes that are so rich.”
The month-long observance aligns with the independence anniversaries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The North Shore Hispanic Chamber, founded in 2019, helps connect and support the Hispanic business community on the North Shore through education and resources.
Pinilla, who is originally from Bogotá, Colombia, said this year’s event will include performances of music from Disney’s “Coco” and “Encanto,” which showcase Mexican and Colombian cultures. “They’re going to perform these pieces of art which highlight Colombian and Mexican artists,” she said, adding, “children love those two musicals.”
The Glen Cove School District has also embraced Hispanic Heritage Month as part of a broader district initiative to build culturally affirming environments. Several schools have incorporated Hispanic culture into lessons and events throughout the month.
“We have a beautifully diverse population,” said Ashley Ghiraldi, the district’s coordinator of world languages. “We’re just also planning celebrations for other cultural celebration months to represent our diversity with our students and staff.”
Bilingual administrators read to students in Deasy Elementary School’s bilingual program, and each school is rotating a “discovery chest” of Latin American artifacts from the Huntington Arts Council. Ghiraldi noted that “most of our world language classes in the middle school and high school have been focusing on famous Hispanic persons.”
The district also hosted a dance workshop on Sept. 22 with Riley Bermingham of the American Street Dance Theater Company, where students learned salsa, merengue and bachata.
On Oct. 10, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Connolly Elementary School will host a celebration featuring teachers, parents and members of the North Shore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce sharing traditions and culture.
Hispanic Heritage Week was first proclaimed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968 and later expanded to a month by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.
“If our children grow up listening to other languages, and grow up seeing different cultures and smelling different foods and trying different restaurants,” said Lia D’Angelo, a Glen Cove resident and president of the Comite Civico Argentino, “it is a way to truly immerse ourselves into learning about other people.”
D’Angelo and Pinilla both emphasized the importance of “appreciating the artistic talent that Hispanic culture can bring.”
“The more that we focus on it, the more we show it off, and the more we all appreciate everybody,” D’Angelo said. “The less racism we’re going to see, and the more inclusion we are going to have.”
