MEDIA RELEASE

Thursday, September 5, 2024

 

Contact:
Karey Poole,
Community Services Clerk, City of Bishop
[email protected]
Louis Medina,
Outreach Director, Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association
[email protected]<
Cell 323.788.7447

 —For Immediate Release—

 City of Bishop Partners with Local Nonprofits, Agencies and Businesses to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month & Latino Conservation Week on Sept. 14, in Downtown Bishop

 A big celebration of Hispanics’ contributions to American culture and society, plus ways to support Latinos’ access to the outdoors and responsible recreation activities, will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, on the 300 West block of Church Street, behind Bishop City Hall.

The co-organizers of Bishop’s combined Hispanic Heritage Month and Latino Conservation Week celebration, a free community event, are the City of Bishop, and Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association, with ample support from dozens of organizations focused on conservation and public lands protection, recreational opportunities access, health and human services, public safety, and other resources.

 Hispanic Heritage Month

“Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage month from mid-September to mid-October by celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of people whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America,” said José García, Bishop’s first ever Hispanic Mayor, who is originally from Mexico.

“Hispanic people in Bishop have been part of our community for several decades and contribute to society in unprecedented ways, and to the financial growth of our community,” he said. Adding: “Many Hispanics from the USA, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and other countries have made the Eastern Sierra their home.”

According to the latest (July 2023) data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 24.6% of the population of Inyo County is Hispanic or Latino. For Mono County, that percentage is even higher: 27.4%.

 Latino Conservation Week

“Despite the fact that more than one in four residents of Inyo and Mono counties combined is Hispanic, and that the influence of Hispanics is so strong in our region that the very name Sierra Nevada is a Spanish name that means ‘snowy mountain range,’ Hispanics lack access to many of the great outdoor experiences the Eastern Sierra has to offer,” said Louis Medina, Outreach Director for Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association (ESIA). “That’s why Latino Conservation Week is important: because it encourages Latinos to get outdoors and acquire information to help them recreate responsibly and learn to become stewards of nature.”

“Mayor Garcia has always been a champion of Latino Conservation Week,” Medina said, “and when Hispanic Access Foundation, the organization that founded Latino Conservation Week and promotes it at the national level, changed the dates of the event from summer to fall because of the heat (from mid-July to September 14-22 this year, to be exact), Mayor Garcia readily suggested that we combine it with the City’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.”

 What the Public Can Expect

The area behind City Hall that traditionally is used for the popular Bishop’s Friday Night Markets, will be all decked out Saturday, Sept. 14, in a fiesta-like atmosphere with food, drinks, and arts & crafts vendors; live music from internationally known Colombian cumbia group La Sonora Dinamita, and grupera romántica band CMS Los Caminantes por Siempre, a dance area, a kids’ activity area, and booths with information in English and Spanish about public land access, recreational opportunities, and family resources from community organizations such as Inyo County Office of Education Adult Education Program, Wild Iris Counseling & Crisis Center/CASA of the Eastern Sierra, Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association, Friends of the Inyo, Cerro Coso Community College, AltaOne Federal Credit Union, Death Valley National Park, California Highway Patrol, INYO350, Inyo County Outdoor Youth and Tobacco Education Programs, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and many more.

Generous event sponsors include Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Bishop Lions Club, Rotary Club of Bishop Sunrise, Rotary Club of Bishop Noon, Inyo Council for the Arts, Grocery Outlet, Amigo’s Mexican Restaurant, El Ranchito Mexican Restaurant, AltaOne Federal Credit Union, El Sol de la Sierra, The Sierra Reader, CF Music, CF Property Management, Coso Operating Company, Altrusa International of the Eastern Sierra, and the City of Bishop.

“The City of Bishop is pleased to invite you to the 2nd Annual Hispanic Heritage celebration Saturday, September 14th, from 4 to 8 p.m., on Church Street, behind City Hall,” García said. “And its 3^rd Annual Latino Conservation Week,” Medina added.

For additional information, please write to Louis Medina of ESIA at [email protected], or Karey Poole at Community Services for the City of Bishop, at [email protected].