Culture & Heritage

Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated nationwide and begins on September 15, 2008, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries-Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico achieved independence on September 16th and Chile on September 18th. Hispanic Heritage Month has been celebrated in the United States since 1974, when President Gerald Ford issued  a Presidential Proclamation extending Hispanic Heritage Week into a month-long observation.

     The Old Spanish Trail Festival Society event salutes the area's rich heritage every year  on the last weekend of April and the first weekend in May. Most years, festivities will include a treasure hunt, craft and food vendors, a beauty pageant, carnival rides, and various local musicians performing on the last day of the event. Old Spanish Trail refers to the route used by the three European countries that settled the area; Spain, England, and France. It was a trade route between El Paso, Texas and Jacksonville, Florida. The majority of the festivities are held at Spanish Trail Park.  For more information on the festival and specific events, go here: http://www.ostf.info/index.html



The photo above left  is of an OSTF parade on Main Street in Crestview, FL in the 1960s.  
The museum would like to have the names of the people in this photo (see original at museum).
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VivaFlorida
     VivaFlorida.org is presently on-line, soon to become VivaFlorida.org
      The site will contain information on Hispanic history, culture and heritage in the State of Florida.  It promises to be a great collection of data.  The present site contains an address by Florida's governor and lists items soon to be on the site.  

The Florida Cuban Heritage Trail.

     The Florida Cuban Heritage Trail includes descriptions of more than one-hundred important to the history of Florida and Cuba, profiles of famous Cuban Americans, and a guide to Cuban festivals in Florida. Color photographs throughout vividly depict many of the historic sites that are listed.

Telemundo.

     Telemundo, a U.S. Spanish-language television network is the essential entertainment, news, and sports source for Hispanics and a leading international player in the entertainment industry with presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. Broadcasting unique national and local programming for the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, Telemundo reaches 93% of U.S. Hispanic viewers in 210 markets through its 16 owned-and-operated stations, 45 broadcast affiliates, and 800 cable affiliates. Telemundo is wholly owned by NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies.

Univision.

     Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States and Puerto Rico. It has the largest Latin American audience, largely due to repurposed telenovelas and other Mexican programs produced by Grupo Televisa. Joe Uva is the CEO of Univision Communications, Inc.