Saturday was a day for kids as the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board hosted its annual El Dia de los Ninos celebration at West Aurora High School.
The four-hour community event centered on children featured book giveaways, arts and crafts, inflatables and games, food vendors, raffles and more.
Bianca Guzman of Aurora came to the celebration Saturday with her son Lorenzo, 2.
“This is something I wanted to do. I have Lorenzo now and he’s a lot more active and into different activities and I’m trying to get him involved in the community,” Guzman said. “Getting kids raised up and involved in the community, for them to do educational activities is important.”
Tony Martinez, who works for the city of Aurora and serves as the liaison to the Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board, said that the event in Aurora has been going on for more than a decade “to celebrate the day of the children – how they are important to our society.”
“Children are important to our society and it’s important to raise them to be the leaders of the future,” he said. “It’s a day for families to get together and we have food vendors, literary stations, games and more. We used to hold this outside but over the years it’s always been raining, so we’ve moved it to an indoor location.”
The event has drawn 500 to 1,000 guests per year, a number that Martinez said has remained steady.
A mariachi band was brought back this year for the first time in a while, he said.
“We give out prizes and books as we have Disney characters and try to keep it fun for the family and all ages,” he said. “At the end of the day we really want people to value the children in our community and what they do to contribute. We want to get them out in the community and know we’re all together here in the city of Aurora.”
Vanessa Saenz of Batavia and her husband Daniel Lopez came to the event with their children and said this was their first time at the festival.
“We really care about cultural immersion for our children and making sure we are keeping tradition in their lives,” Vanessa Saenz said. “That part of it is really important for us, bringing them to where they have the music, the food, the culture. It reinforces their background.”
Daniel Lopez noted that “Dia de los Ninos is something that we celebrate as a community. We’ve done it my whole life growing up.”
“It’s nice to pass along a little bit of us and keep the tradition going with the kids. It’s a little bit different because we usually did it (the celebration) at church, so we weren’t coming to a lot of events like this,” he said. “This is something we want to expand on. It gets the kids out of the house and away from the TV and this keeps the momentum going.”
Jaimie Paprocki of Aurora was seen pushing her 6-month-old son Joel in a stroller while her 8-year-old son was inside playing at the festival.
“We wanted to bring the kids over and have some exposure to their culture and have some fun and be part of the community of Aurora,” she said. “My son is going crazy in there. He went to the bounce castle and the obstacle course and he’s having a blast. I think having a day to celebrate kids is spot on. It’s showing kids they can come together more and we’re celebrating them and showing we have a whole community behind them and getting their parents out and backing them as well.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
