- Dozens celebrated Honduras’ independence Friday with a flag-raising ceremony outside the Allentown City Hall
- The ceremony was the first event of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15
- A similar event is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday to celebrate Mexico’s Independence Day
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Strong winds set the perfect stage for a Honduran-flag-raising ceremony outside the Allentown City Hall on Friday evening.
Several dozen people joined Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk and other local officials to hoist the flag of Honduras and celebrate the country gaining its independence from Spain just over 200 years ago.
Leswin Ayala organized Friday’s event, which was followed by a party in Stephens Park.
“You can’t imagine how good it feels to have your flag up there."Event organizer Leswin Ayala
He said he was happy to see dozens of people at the event Friday “because two years ago, no one was talking about the Honduran community” in the Lehigh Valley.
The first-ever Honduran-flag-raising outside the Allentown City Hall last year also drew a good crowd, he said.
“You can’t imagine how good it feels to have your flag up there,” he said, pointing to the Honduran flag before he and his mother hoisted it high above City Hall.
“Here in the City of Allentown, where we are a majority-Latino city, those contributions are immeasurable; they’re enormous.”Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk
Ayala said he was one of only a few Honduran residents in the region when he moved to Allentown in 1999. He estimated about 500 Honduran residents now live across the Lehigh Valley.
The flag-raising ceremony served as the kickoff for Allentown’s celebrations of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.
“This is the month where we recognize the contributions of our Hispanic and Latino residents to the City of Allentown, to our cultural fabric,” Tuerk said Friday. “Here in the City of Allentown, where we are a majority-Latino city, those contributions are immeasurable; they’re enormous.”
Sept. 15 serves as the start of Hispanic Heritage Month because five Central American countries — Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica — celebrate their independence on that day.
Mexico and Chile also have Independence Days this week: Sept. 16 and Sept. 18, respectively. City residents and officials are scheduled to celebrate Mexico’s independence with an event at 1 p.m. Saturday outside City Hall.
Students at William Allen High also held a flag-raising ceremony Friday, hoisting a Hispanic Heritage Month banner that shows the flags of more than 20 countries as leaves on a tree.
About three-quarters of students at William Allen are Hispanic and about a quarter of students speak primarily Spanish, according to the school’s principal.
