ROCHELLE – The City of Rochelle celebrated the Hispanic culture within the community over the weekend.
Rochelle hosted its second annual La Fiesta Hispana of Rochelle or the Hispanic party of Rochelle this past Saturday from 3 to 11 p.m., on North Main Street and Fifth Avenue in downtown Rochelle.
The event included many different attractions for people off all ages such as a mechanical bull, a bouncy house, face painting, dance performances, a pageant and four bands from Chicago, DeKalb, Rockford and Rock Falls.
While this event was aimed at celebrating Hispanic culture, everyone was welcome at the event.

“This event is to celebrate all of the Hispanic cultures in Rochelle but we want this to be for everybody, not just the Hispanic community. We want everyone to feel both welcomed and included,” said Rosie Arteaga, main organizer of the event.
The goal is to also bring in people from other communities such as DeKalb and Rockford to be included in the event.
Another special attraction to the event was the NIU Block Fest, where kids play with different sized and shaped blocks, while learning different skills at the same time. This was the second year the event has taken place, and both the organizers and vendors said it was a much bigger turnout that the previous year.
Organizers are already looking ahead to make next year even bigger and better.
“We want to bring in different attractions and different vendors for people to try new things. 2020 is going to have new things and better things, it is going to be bigger,” expressed Arteaga.
The third edition of La Fiesta Hispana will take place on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020 and leaders are hoping to join forces with surrounding towns.