Reid Ballroom did not look like Reid Ballroom on Saturday, Oct. 5. Gone was the large, empty room first-years took their student ID photos in. Between bright, colorful decorations, a large turnout and plenty of dancing, the space felt less like a student center and more like a club, making someone forget they were in Walla Walla. The space was transformed.

All this was thanks to Whitman’s Club Latinx, who hosted a dance in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

The decorations and food — all homemade — were the product of the combined efforts of everyone in Club Latinx.

First-year Camille Brown appreciated the club’s efforts.

“I walked in and it was so pretty, [and] the food’s really good,” Brown said. “I really like the sweet bread [conchas] and the [agua fresca]. And the fruit, obviously, I love the fruit.”

“We wanted to concentrate on all Latin American countries, hence all the flags,” said sophomore Club Latinx member Eli Rodriguez, referencing the many Latin American flags adorning the ballroom’s walls.

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Chelsea Goldsmith

Sophomore Sylvia Adome poses at the event's photo booth

“Everything is pretty traditional. The paper flowers are really cool, [and] we did like a whole Latinx Club just making that,” she added. “All the food is our favorite food, and we made it ourselves, which is why we have so much.”

Club member and senior Eduardo Cabrera reflected on the club’s collective efforts to set up the event.

“We came in at 3 p.m. today and started setting it up to make sure the decorations were good,” he said. 

This was not Club Latinx’s first attempt at throwing an event of this nature, but the setbacks from previous years only made them better prepared for this year.

“At Club Latinx, we’ve been trying to do something for the past couple years, like an event that we’re throwing for the community,” Cabrera said.

“We tried doing something similar last year with Walla Walla U, [but] we ended up not doing it because we had such a short time period that we couldn’t get Reid,” Rodriguez said, “but this only took a month. I think it was so fast because we already knew what we wanted from it since last year there were a couple complications. It didn’t take that long, and it was fun.”

Rodriguez said the club wanted to bring the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month to the greater Whitman community.

“It’s for everyone,” Rodriguez said. “We really wanted to have everyone experience Hispanic Heritage Month and get jiggy with it.”