The Latino Festival of Monmouth County marks a milestone as it celebrates its 10th anniversary in Freehold this weekend. Festival Chairman Angel Matos said the event not only exposes visitors to various Latino cultures but it has also gone a long way in helping to dismantle the barriers of misperception.

Roughly paraphrasing a quote from Mark Twain about how a lot of prejudices are torn down if you do it while traveling and are exposed to different cultures. Matos believes the Latino Festival does exactly that on a local level.

"I think the value that we bring is that we bring those cultures together. People are rubbing elbows at the festival", said Matos. "The differences that are kind of perceived are kind of broken down" ... "And people all of a sudden find out that everybody's chasing pretty much the same dream. To have a healthy and relatively happy life and some prosperity for their children."

Latino Festival of Monmouth County, Photo Credit to LFOMC Facebook Page
Latino Festival of Monmouth County, Photo Credit to LFOMC Facebook Page
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The festival runs from noon to 7pm on Saturday, October 4th at the Hall Of Records parking lot on Main Street and across on Lafayette Street. It will feature music, dance acts, information booths, inflatable rides, face painting children's activities, a variety of Latin foods and Zumba. The rain date is Sunday. October 5th.

The Latino Festival coincides with Hispanic Heritage Month which runs from September 15th through October 15th. According to its press release, the first festival was held in 2005 at the Park Avenue School in Freehold until it moved to downtown Freehold in 2008. The event is produced by the Latino Coalition Foundation and is supported by a host of sponsors.

Get the details at their website LFOMC.com or their Facebook Page

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