You might presume the Arkansalsa Fest happening Saturday in Springdale is a festival about a style of dance or about a delicious type of dip. Well, you'd be partially right. But there's so much more happening at the festival, which combines food, music, health, wellness and education.
"When you're making salsa, there's a lot of ingredients you need. Bringing all these families together, there's a lot of communities and ethnicities -- we're all creating a salsa," says Dulce Ortiz, the program coordinator with OneCommunity.
FAQ
Arkansalsa Fest
WHEN — 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE — Shiloh Square in downtown Springdale
COST — Free
INFO — 310-9027, onecommunityar.org
The nonprofit organization hopes the event, now in its fourth year, will bring the community together to have fun while also raising awareness of literacy and scholarship programs. The "Feed Your Brain" and "Lights on Afterschool" components are part of the organization's Kids' Zone and help parents to recognize the importance of reading to their children and the availability of after school programming.
Ortiz says the festival is making an impact at the most basic level -- in the home. "When we give out information on the the importance of reading, a lot of parents become more involved in reading with their children and that's a way kids and parents can spend more time together."
The festival incorporates a health and wellness fair, a 1-mile fun walk and a college and scholarship fair as well. Ortiz says people may not be aware of these resources available to them in their own community so by bringing them to the festival free of charge, people can benefit while also being informed.
"Whether it's through music or food, we're breaking down those barriers of 'Because I don't know your language, I'm not going to talk to you.' We're all one big family. People feel welcome and leave knowing things they didn't know before."
-- Jocelyn Murphy
jmurphy@nwadg.com
NAN What's Up on 10/28/2016