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Naperville's Hispanic Heritage Festival celebrates food, art and music Sept. 17

The Naperville Sister City Foundation and Commission are hosting the second annual Hispanic Heritage Festival from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17. Check out the South of the Border Marketplace and Taste of Latin America while enjoying live music in Central Park, 104 E. Benton Ave.

The Martin Metzger Flamenco Ensemble will perform from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m., followed by Los Perros Cubanos, playing the music of Cuba's Golden Age of the 1940s and 1950s, from 7 to 8 p.m.

José Valdes & The Mambo All Stars, winner of the Chicago Music Awards Best Latin Entertainer, perform high energy music from Latin America, like the salsa, merengue, bachata, cha- cha, as well as mambo and Latin jazz. They will play the music of Eddie Palmieri, Celia Cruz, Selena, Gloria Estefan, Tito Puente, and more from 8:15 to 9:15 p.m.

The Taste of Latin America will be featuring tacos, Mexican corn, tamales, empanadas, churros, horchata, paletas, and more from Tickle My Tamale, Taco Dale, Cupido Bakery, FlanBoyan, Olga's Agua Fresca, Dark Horse, and The Swine Cellar.

For the second year, the Naperville Sister Cities Foundation is hosting a fun scavenger hunt on Saturday throughout downtown Naperville. Visit www.napervillehispanicfest.com/2279747.html to download a passport to participate. Top prizes include a $50 downtown Naperville gift card. After you turn in your completed passport by 5 p.m., head over to the Central Park band shell for the Hispanic Heritage Festival.

Other events will be held downtown including a bilingual story time, art projects, Lotería (Mexican bingo), and more. Participating downtown stores are also featuring special events and food specials from 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday.

Special events are occuring throughout the downtown area:

• Nichols Library children's services department is offering papel picado crafts and a scavenger hunt from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. Sept. 12-15 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17.

• Do you enjoy bingo and like to win prizes? Stop by Treasures Naperville, 121 S. Washington St., at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16. They will be playing Lotería (Mexican bingo with pictures) for fun prizes.

• Pinot's Palette, 175 W. Jackson Ave., Suite 123, is hosting "Thank God It's Frida!," a no-experience-required art class with all supplies included, from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16. Cost is $42. Sign up at www.pinotspalette.com. Also this weekend, bring the family to the Riverwalk Fine Art Fair for art finds and paint your own Mexican-themed canvas with Pinot's Palette between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18.

• Top Fashion will have a Pop-up Marketplace from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17. Check out the latest in styles after attending the Riverwalk Fine Art Fair. They will have special Mexican pop-up vendors as well as paletas (frozen fruit bars) from Taco Dale.

• Anderson's Bookshop will have a coloring table featuring Alebrijes (mythical creatures from the afterworld) from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17.

• Celebrate Naperville's Hispanic Heritage Festival with a special dual language storytime from 11 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, in the Nichols Library community room, 200 W. Jefferson Ave. Books, rhymes, and songs will be shared to help foster an appreciation for the Spanish language. The activities presented are family oriented with stories suitable for the youngest ages. This program welcomes both Spanish and non-Spanish speakers.

• Pottery Bayou, 210 S. Washington, is offering sugar skull painting classes at 11:30 a.m., 3 and 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17. Sign up at potterybayoustudio.com.

• Children and adults are welcome to try to tame the fearsome mechanical bull from El Patron on Saturday, Sept. 17, from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Park Bandshell.

• Try the "made from scratch" Mexican paletas (frozen fruit bars) and churros from Taco Dale and Ilda's Ice Cream & Pastries from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Naperville Central Park Bandshell. Visit tacodale.com and ildasicecream.com.

• Tiendita Recuerdos De Pátzcuaro will be bringing some of Mexico's most beautiful artesian items, jewelry and alebrijes, handmade by talented artesanos from different states of Mexico.

• With Dia de los Muertos, Aurora artist Christopher Lucero paints a person's face in the theme of a Mexican sugar skull, sets up a small scene with cloth or a scarf, and photographs that person. Each person shares a bit of their life in writing and with what a portrait is created. To see some of his work, follow his Facebook page.

• Giovanni Arellano is a talented multimedia artist who experiments in screen printing, graphic arts, and painted goods. He was the commissioned artist in the Dream Action program at NIU in 2022 and has been featured artist at the Mexican Cultural Center. He also has done work with the DuPage Children's Museum, Gallery 200, and Cantigny. On Saturday, Sept. 17, he will use chalk to design an Alebrije masterpiece at the Riverwalk Fine Art Fair.

• When the festival wraps up in Central Park, head over to Potter's Place for live music and drink specials until midnight at 29 W. Jefferson Ave.

For more information, visit napervillehispanicfest.com or www.facebook.com/napervillesistercities.

The Naperville Sister Cities Foundation is a nonprofit committed to connecting Naperville and its citizens to the global community. The Sister City Program was initiated on a global scale in 1956 as a creative force for international cooperation and goodwill through community action. Naperville's participation in the program started in 1993 as the Naperville Sister Cities Commission, and the Naperville Sister Cities Foundation was formed in 1999. The foundation sponsors programs designed to foster cultural and commercial exchange between Naperville and its sister cities in Nitra, Slovakia and Patzcuaro and Cancun, Mexico.

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