ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
September is rapidly approaching, and one of the many holidays commemorated in during the month is Hispanic Heritage Month, which Liberal will be looking to kick off with a bang.
The 2024 Southwest Community Fiesta will be taking place the weekend of Sept. 15. Everything will begin Saturday, Sept. 14 with the Little Southwest Fiesta Queens and the Southwest Fiesta Queen pageants, which will start at 7 p.m. and be at the Seward County Activity Center at 810 Stadium Ave. Sunday, Sept. 15 will be the big fiesta day, and it will all start with the parade at 2:30 p.m., and that will follow the same route of the other parades – the parade will start at 11th Street and Kansas Avenue (with lineup starting at 2 p.m. at Light Park) and end at Kansas Avenue and Trail Street. Then, the festival itself will be from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Seward County Activity Center.
“We're super excited with everything being just a little less than a month away, and we're so happy to be able to make the pageant portion happen this time around – last year, since it was our first year, we decided to take some baby steps and focus on the fiesta part of everything, but this year, we decided to dedicate more toward the pageant stuff since the community loves it,” Coordinator Clarissa Carrillo said. “We have nine participants for the Southwest Fiesta Queens pageant, and we also have several little girls participating in the Little Southwest Fiesta Queens pageant, which we're happy about. We'll be providing scholarships to the top three in the Southwest Fiesta Queens pageant, which is really exciting, and giving those scholarships is always a big goal of our committee. Overall, we're happy to continue bringing this fiesta back and encouraging people in the community to come out and be part of the fun.”
Carrillo said there is certainly a lot to look forward to with this year’s fiesta.
“We're really just happy to be able to bring the fiesta back for another year. Last year was a challenge for us since we were dipping our toes into it all and seeing what worked and what didn't, and we definitely learned from last year,” Carrillo said. “And since we're all volunteers, we're working with more limited time and resources and things like that. But we're extremely happy knowing the community is excited about us bringing the fiesta back, and we're very grateful for the support we received last year with everything. This is definitely a community event, so it takes everyone to make a big event like this possible, and I can't emphasize enough just how hard everyone works behind the scenes making sure all the logistics are in place for this to be even remotely possible. We're already getting a lot of support for this year with the pageant participants and the entertainment, but we could always use more, so if there's anyone who wants to be a sponsor, vendor or volunteer, all they would need to do is call me at (620) 417-4043, email
Carrillo added she hopes to see a lot of entries for the parade.
“The parade is another great opportunity for us to come together as a community. It's always great to have those types of opportunities because we can all learn from one another, and with the fiesta taking place at the kickoff of Hispanic Heritage Month, people in the community will be able to learn more about our culture through our food and music and everything else,” Carrillo said. “Other communities in the area have events like this, and we want to be sure to also have one in Liberal so everyone can come together and celebrate and learn. When it comes to the parade, we're pretty welcoming and open, and we also want the participants to bring part of their traditions and turn them into a float, because this is a big celebration. People are welcome to put together a float or walk as a group or whatever they want to do, everyone is welcome, and anyone wanting to be in the parade can call me at (620) 417-4043, email
This year’s festivities should bring a jolt of color to everyone in the community, Carrillo said.
“It's going to be a really bright, colorful event that will be full of fun and activities that don't normally happen in the community. And again, the fiesta is a great learning opportunity for people because they'll get to learn more about different cultures and traditions and all of that,” Carrillo said. “One of my favorite parts of the fiesta is all of the traditional dances and songs from other countries, so it's great to take all of that in not only visually, but aurally as well. And we love when community members participate in the entertainment, because we hear so many times 'Oh my gosh, I didn't know he/she could sing/dance, that was amazing!' And some of our area youth will also be performing, which should be great. As far as special guests, we're really excited because there's a folkloric dance group from Guymon, Okla. that will be part of the entertainment, as well as some dancers from Liberal High School, so I think the community will be really excited to see that.”
Overall, Carrillo said, this year’s fiesta should be a great event for everyone.
“We're also continuing to raise money for our scholarship fund because again, that's THE goal of the pageant, to provide money to young people wanting to continue their education,” Carrillo said. “I actually received a scholarship from the Cinco de Mayo Committee when I was in high school, so this is a great way for me to help give back, and that's also why I'm so involved in Liberal now. And if anyone wants to help that fund or help the committee, they would just need to get in touch with me or another committee member, and we'll be able to guide you with whatever you want to do.
Carrillo said she and her fellow committee members are excited to bring the fiesta back for another year, and added they are also thinking toward the future.
“As a committee, we're all excited to be able to make this happen, and as we get closer to everything, there are some nerves, but we just have to trust we put everything together the way we wanted it to so the community can have the best possible time,” Carrillo said. “Overall, however, there's just too much to say as far as what we're excited about because we're happy about the pageant and the parade and the overall festival and we can't believe we're already so close. One of the things we did last year was change the name of the event – our committee is still the Cinco de Mayo Committee, but we changed the name to Southwest Community Fiesta because we decided we wanted to encompass more than JUST that holiday and have more of a celebration of our community and culture. Also, we wanted to be sure and give ourselves enough time to actually plan things out and make sure everything would actually be able to happen. We also knew we didn't want this celebration to be just for Liberal, but for people in the whole area, including Dodge City, Garden City, Hugoton, and even Guymon, because all of those places are close enough to be able to join in the fun, and as the old saying goes, the more the merrier! One of our big hopes is to continue growing this event and bring more people to Liberal as part of our celebrations.”
