A flurry of color converged at Bascom Hill, syncopated drum beats bumped through the crowd and the voices of congregating students wrapped in the colors of their heritage filled the center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus last Friday, Sept. 12.
“To see everybody so prideful and so open with their culture is very heartwarming,” UW-Madison junior Victoria said. “This is such a big school. A lot of the time, I don’t see the Hispanic presence on campus.”
The event kicked off UW-Madison’s Latine Heritage Month celebration, themed this year as “Amor Sin Fronteras,” or “Love without Borders.”
This year marked the Latine Cultural Center’s 8th annual March Up Bascom. After making their way up the hill, attendees played games and took swings at candy-filled piñatas.
Making its inaugural appearance at the celebration was the “Mercadito,” or little market. The Mercadito filled the Birge Hall lawn with local vendors selling homemade crafts, jewelry and snacks.
“Sometimes it feels a little isolating when you go to a lecture and you look around and you feel like you're the only one with your identity,” junior Tatiana Estrada said. “These kinds of spaces are a place where you can talk and find out there are people that have similar interests [as] you and understand you culturally.”
Natalie Ergas, LCC Program Coordinator, told The Daily Cardinal both the March and the Mercadito were a rousing success.
“It’s the biggest March Up Bascom that I have seen,” Ergas said, who for two years has overseen the event. Ergas and her staff recorded 287 attendees. The Mercadito was the brainchild of Ergas, who said she wanted to extend the great “energy and positivity” of the event past just the walk up Bascom Hill.
“Students were still around at the end, kicking a soccer ball, doing crafts or just socializing,” Ergas said, adding it was like a “big warm hug” for her after putting her whole summer toward planning the event.
The March was the beginning of the LCC’s Latine Heritage Month on campus. According to Ergas, the idea and event planning began in January of this year.
Ergas said the goal of the celebration is to highlight the unique experience of being Latin American, and how different identities transfer, change and evolve when coming to the United States.
“We have a tremendous sense of love for other identities, cultures and communities within the diaspora,” she said.
“No matter where you’re from, you can find that strong, resilient community,” Kelani Rodriguez, chair of the Latine Heritage Month Planning Committee, said.
Rodriguez helped pitch the theme idea along with Ergas, and together the two led the committee. Rodriguez became chair less than a year ago but has already seen growth.
“We had 30 students in the committee this year, when in the past they’ve had about 12 to 15,” she said. Rodriguez said she was happy to see the excitement and joy the committee has put into planning this year's month of events.
The LCC is part of the Multicultural Student Center housed inside the Red Gym. Established in 2018, the LCC offers culturally relevant spaces and programs, with many students using the space and events to study and meet friends.
“There [aren’t] a lot of us, so we [have] to stick together,” Nicola Quintana, a sophomore draped in an Argentinean flag for the March, told the Cardinal. “I try to seek out people with similar experience to me to build that community.”
Ergas said events like the March Up Bascom develop and grow community in the LCC. “There is a tremendous sense of pride that comes with Latine heritage,” she said. “Being able to celebrate is foundational [to that].”
The LCC has planned six events for Latine Heritage Month this year, concluding with the Latine Ball on Oct. 4 held in Varsity Hall.
“Latine Heritage Month is always fun,” Ergas said, “it’s really cool to be able to set the tone for the year and welcome folks in to celebrate with us and learn more about Latine communities and culture.”
