Cultures meet at Tally Fiesta 2014

The smell of spices and herbs filled the air along with the sound of horns and laughter Saturday as different nationalities came together to celebrate and learn about the Hispanic culture.

Tallahassee is filled with different cultures and unlike south Florida, “there isn’t so much of one particular culture,” said Maria Jose Villavicencio, Tally Fiesta chair.

“But Hispanics exist in Tallahassee,” she said.

Now, in its third year, Tally Fiesta brought together people of Hispanic heritage to share with the larger community music, dance and other cultural traditions.

In hope that members in the Tallahassee community will learn to work together, Villavicencio came up with the idea of Tally Fiesta three years ago.

“It’s growing every year. It’s great, because it gives a whole town exposure to the Latin community,” Sue Tucker of zumbajunkie.com said.

Along with that Idea were plans for the future. Not only does Villavicencio want the event to grow, but she also wanted to start a scholarship fund. The Tally Fiesta scholarship will be open to hispanic students going to college.

Corina White, 16, a student at Rickards High school, was unaware of the scholarship, but she though that it would be a great idea. Students like White found out about the fiesta in Spanish class and decided to volunteer.

“Our goal this year is to at least give out two scholarships. If we can do four that would be awesome,” Villavicencio said.
The amount of the scholarship isn’t set nor is the official name, but Villavicencio hopes that it will.

 “As we grow it will find that name, but for right now Tally Fiesta is what it is about,” she said.