Greenville’s Hispanic Heritage Festival is trading its longtime outdoor home for one of the biggest stages in the Upstate. On September 13, the Asociación Hispano-Americana de Mujeres will host the 28th annual event at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in downtown Greenville, running from noon to 6 p.m., with admission set at $5 at the door and free entry for children 7 and under.
The move marks a significant step up for the nonprofit, also known as AHAM, which for years held the festival at Fluor Field before organizers moved the festival to a larger venue, according to Greenville Journal. Bon Secours Wellness Arena, which opened in downtown Greenville in 1998, seats up to 15,000 spectators, according to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena’s Wikipedia entry. AHAM board member Patricia McDaniel said the festival shows the beauty of the Hispanic community and the many cultures that have come together to make the Upstate stronger, the outlet reports. According to the City of Greenville, publicly funded improvements were designed to link Bon Secours Wellness Arena more directly to downtown, with the project estimated to be completed by the end of 2025.
McDaniel added that festival attendees will see the community’s colors, hear its music, taste its food and experience its traditions. She said she hopes the larger venue will allow more families to enjoy the event, per the same account. This year’s festival celebrates 20 Hispanic cultures through traditional food, music and dancing, according to the report.
A Community Outgrowing Its Old Venue
The relocation tracks with demographic shifts across the region. Greenville County holds the largest total Hispanic population of any county in South Carolina, with Hispanic residents making up approximately 11.6% of the county’s total population, or more than 63,000 people, according to data from the National Institutes of Health’s HDPulse Data Portal. Statewide, Hispanic residents account for roughly 7.4% of South Carolina’s population, or nearly 390,000 people, per the same source…