Plans for Fiesta 2011 underway

Hola & Bien Venidos, Everyone who loves Spanish language and culture in libraries! Next week (Friday Sept 2nd from 6-8 pm) we will host our annual Hispanic Heritage Fiesta celebration. This year members of our Spanish conversation group "Reunion en Espanol" have been practicing 4 songs, singing all in Spanish. This idea came from Oscar who is our "maestro" and coach. Oscar Macz, born in Guatemala, now living in Stevensville, is a multi-talented musician, singer, song writer and guitar player. Oscar selected four beautiful and familiar Spanish songs. Many of us who are novice singers truly appreciate the patience and kindness Oscar demonstrates towards us. Besides our weekly conversation group meeting on Wednesday evenings, those of us who will be singing on Fiesta night have been gathering Monday nights at the home of Oscar & Debbie to practice singing; that is,after we enjoy some delicious food! Debbie & Oscar have been the "hosts with the most", each week sharing some dish prepared with our group in mind. The rest of us have contributed, too, making this a "family affair." So fun! Our singing and harmony have significantly improved over the weeks. Yesterday Ravalli County Health Dept. called the library to advise us that we can no longer serve home cooked foods at our Fiesta. This came as a disappointment initially, although we respect the reason behind this restriction. Food safety is vitally important to us all. We now have to regroup and reorganize our agenda, reducing the amount of "eating" time from 1 hour to 1/2 hour, moving our singing up, increasing that performance time, and introducing our dancers earlier. AND our regularly scheduled dance instructor, Kimberlee, won't be able to make it so she has engaged two unknown dancers that she assures us will be spectacular. SO...all things considered, we are hoping Fiesta 2011 is as successful as in years past. We shall report on this in our next blog, along with some photos!