BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) — Panama City Quality of Life hosted a special event this afternoon to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.
The Panama City Quality of Life hosted the first annual Hispanic Heritage Festival in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Bay County resident Karina Posava said the festival is important because it gives her a chance to connect with other Hispanic people in the community.
“We just like to have this month to gather and celebrate with our different cultures. Even though we have the same language, we have different slang words to we gather together to celebrate,” Posava said.
The festival also celebrated the sounds and flavors of Hispanic culture.
“This is a great thing we are doing this it gives people a great chance to come out and get to know each other…Our culture, ya know, it’s different. Our foods, our rhythm, just what we call in Spanish our flavor,” said a local resident, Vivian Principe.
Posava said this event gives everyone in the Hispanic community a chance to celebrate their culture.
“We don’t have anything like this here in Panama City and we have a really large community of Hispanic people here and we don’t know that, because they are all hiding, because we never have an event like this. So we wanted to do this to have them come out and celebrate,” Posava said.
Panama City Quality of Life director Sean De Palma said he hopes the event was an opportunity to bring everyone together.
“To showcase other parts of our community that may not be showcased throughout the year. Hoping to weave through the fabric of the quilt of the United States of how we are all diverse but we are all Americans at the same time,” De Palma said.
Hispanic Heritage Month began on September 15 and ends October 15.