{"id":16422,"date":"2025-09-22T23:21:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T23:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fiesta-on-the-mesa-celebrates-hispanic-heritage-month-at-fort-lewis-college\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:57:11","slug":"fiesta-on-the-mesa-celebrates-hispanic-heritage-month-at-fort-lewis-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fiesta-on-the-mesa-celebrates-hispanic-heritage-month-at-fort-lewis-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiesta on the Mesa celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month at Fort Lewis College"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jazmine
Jazmine Nells dances with Ballet Folklorico de Durango on Friday during Fort Lewis College\u2019s Fiesta on the Mesa celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

For the past 30 years, Fort Lewis College\u2019s El Centro de Muchos Colores has organized the Fiesta on the Mesa, a celebration meant to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month.<\/p>\n

The 2025 gathering, held Friday outside of the Student Union, highlighted many aspects of Latinx and Hispanic culture, from food to dance performances by Ballet Folkorico de Durango to music from Mariachi Amigos de Nuevo M\u00e9xico that drifted across the mesa.<\/p>\n

FLC Director of Belonging Kate Suazo said the event was something that allowed people of Hispanic or Latinx heritage to be themselves and celebrate their culture, while sharing it with the entire community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work tied into our identity is always something that requires us to be authentic and honest,\u201d Suazo said. \u201cBut something that I really love about being a Latina myself is that when we come together around food and music, everything else just kind of goes away and we just get to be in community together.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Shirena Trujillo Long, FLC alumna and former El Centro coordinator, the Fiesta on the Mesa is a great way to celebrate the diversity that makes the college special. When she was a student at FLC, Trujillo Long said El Centro was a key part of making her feel welcome on campus, and that Fiesta on the Mesa was a fun way to bring people together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started in 2005 and it was always important to have an event or some kind of anchor at the beginning of the year that brings people together,\u201d Trujillo Long said. \u201cI was in a place where, at that time, it was less than 10% of the student population that identified as Hispanic. So you can feel really alone or isolated. Like, \u2018Wow, where am I? Where are my people?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Many
Many booths were present during Fort Lewis College\u2019s Fiesta on the Mesa on Friday celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Trujillo Long graduated from FLC in 2000, and through her college career, became president of El Centro before becoming the organization\u2019s coordinator postgrad. She has seen it grow, she said, and watched as people in the club grew to become major sources for good in the community. Part of that, she said, is the continuation of Fiesta on the Mesa year after year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to have a place where you could hang out with the club was amazing,\u201d Trujillo Long said. \u201cI was a club El Centro president, and seeing all the club members \u2013 all the younger students \u2013 they\u2019re the club staff now.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said El Centro was not just for Hispanic or Latinx students, something that allowed the club to build community with people from all different backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s called El Centro de Muchas Colores \u2013 the center of many colors,\u201d Trujillo Long said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to do a cultural litmus test to come in or to be part of the center.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ballet
Ballet Folklorico de Durango dances to the music of Mariachi Amigos de Nuevo M\u00e9xico on Friday during Fort Lewis College Fiesta on the Mesa celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

FLC spokesperson Nardy Bickel echoed that, stating that the college is proud to have the celebration and making it open to the entire school and broader Durango community. The music and dance performances were open to the general public, and the special food prepared in FLC\u2019s dining hall for the event was free to FLC students and alumni, with a $10 fee for unaffiliated community members.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just an amazing event to have to celebrate different cultures that are present in the college and community,\u201d Bickel said. \u201cSo we think that\u2019s very important, and that\u2019s why we also open it to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

sedmondson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

In an earlier version of this story gave an incorrect number of years Fiesta on the Mesa has been celebrated<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Mariachi
Mariachi Amigos de Nuevo M\u00e9xico play on Friday during Fort Lewis College\u2019s Fiesta on the Mesa celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mariachi
Mariachi Amigos de Nuevo M\u00e9xico play on Friday during Fort Lewis College\u2019s Fiesta on the Mesa celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

decades of inclusivity for campus, community members<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2007,132,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-culture-general","tag-fort-lewis-college","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16422"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20192,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16422\/revisions\/20192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16422"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}