The national flag of Mexico.
Image Credit: Facebook
September 15, 2015 - 6:30 PM
KELOWNA - A Kelowna bar is holding an event Wednesday night to help some local immigrants feel a little closer to home on a special day.
Carmen Ruiz says Mexican Independence Day is important for the roughly 1,500 Mexicans living and working in the Okanagan.
“This something that makes us really excited,” she says. “Lots of Canadian people are fascinated by Mexican culture and I want to bring a little piece of my country here.”
Ruiz and her family moved to Canada nine years ago but this is the first year she has organized an event like this in Kelowna. On Wednesday night, Sept. 16, Ruiz has arranged for the OK Corral to host a special Mexican Independence Day celebration for anyone who wants to learn more about the Mexican culture.
“Many workers come here to work in the orchards and they always work hard,” she says. “They don’t know anything else, just work, work, work, so it’s nice to give them something to do for a break. It means lot to them because they are away from their families and everything they know. It makes us feel like we are home.”
Doors open at 7 p.m. and there will be latin music, salsa dancing, Mexican games and a traditional drink made from tequila. The Corral’s signature mechanical bull will also be available for gaucho’s to test their mettle.
Mexican Independence Day is celebrated every year on Oct. 16. Ruiz says as far as she knows this is the only celebration of its kind in the Okanagan and stresses the event is not just for Mexicans.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure everybody has fun and gets to know each other.”
For more information visit the OK Corral’s website or the Facebook page for the event.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015