Sherman Hispanic Heritage Festival advertised days ahead of national observance

Sherman's Hispanic Heritage Festival was advertised for Saturday at Lucy Kidd-Key Park. The listing promised food, music, entertainment, an art competition, a car exhibition and children's activities. The Grayson County Democratic Party posted it while recruiting volunteers to staff the party's booth at the event.

It remains unverified whether the festival took place and whether families attended. The party's post invited families and promoted a children's area. It does not document attendance.

The listing set the hours at 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2026. That date came three days before the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month. The month runs from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, according to the Library of Congress.

The 2020 Census counted nearly one in four Sherman residents as Hispanic or Latino. The city's fiscal 2025 budget lists the festival as a tourism activity. Arts Fest and Hot Summer Nights are on the same list.

City records trace the festival back to at least 2010. A council agenda from September of that year already called it an annual event. For the Sept. 11, 2010, festival, the agenda included a request to close streets and suspend parking time limits. The request also asked for city facilities and services.

Nine years later, the council approved closing streets around the Municipal Building for the Sept. 14, 2019, festival. The city agreed to supply extra waste containers, cones and barricades. Minutes from the council's Sept. 16 meeting confirm that the festival was held. The minutes record Mayor David Plyler thanking the organizers. He also thanked Police Chief Zach Flores for attending and for speaking Spanish.

The city's Parks and Recreation Department says the park was once the Sherman Municipal Grounds. The City Council created the park in September 2015. The council named it for the woman who ran a college on the site.

The national observance began as Hispanic Heritage Week under 1968 legislation, the Library of Congress reports. Congress made it a full month in 1988. The mid-September start date is tied to independence anniversaries. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua mark theirs on Sept. 15, and Mexico celebrates its own a day later.

In 2020, Sherman's Hispanic share was well above that of neighboring Denison. The Census counted about one Denison resident in eight as Hispanic or Latino. From 2010 to 2020, Hispanic residents accounted for about half of the state's population growth, the Texas Demographic Center reported.

In Madisonville, organizers advertised their third annual Hispanic Heritage Festival for the same Saturday at Lake Madison Park. They promised free admission and a free children's zone. Denton's city calendar schedules that city's celebration for Oct. 3 at the MLK Jr. Recreation Center, during the national month. The calendar lists student performances and a food drive among the planned offerings.