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Wichita State project documents fiestas and Latino community life in western Kansas
Summary
A Wichita State–led project filmed and photographed fiestas, quinceañeras and civic events across Dodge City, Liberal and Garden City to document Latino material culture, local economies tied to meatpacking and community health efforts led by promotoras.
Dr. Rocedo Del d1Aguila Carif1o presented a multi-site project documenting Hispanic cultural heritage and public celebrations across western Kansas, centering Dodge City, Liberal and Garden City. The team recorded quincef1eras, religious processions, civic festivals and naturalization ceremonies to create a repository linked to the Library of Congress and local libraries.
Del c1guila described demographic contours and economic context that shaped the work. She said Dodge City, Liberal and Garden City have large Latino populations ("Dodge city has 66% of Hispanic population, Liberal is 69% and Garden, 52%"), and she linked migration and labor flows to meatpacking and rail-era migration. "The meat factories never sleep," she said, and noted that plants such as National Beef play a central role in local economies and family livelihoods.
The fieldwork emphasized material culture and the many professionals and informal workers who support celebrations: seamstresses, professional bakers, DJs and band leaders hired from Mexico for large quincef1eras. Del c1guila described quincef1era costs and practices (multi-layered cakes, godparents, choreographed dances), and also documented multicultural civic events such as Crossroad Kitchens in Dodge and Wichita Latin Fest. She highlighted community health workers ("promotoras") as key intermediaries who bridge families to health services.
Del c1guila said the project will produce a digital repository for libraries, a photo presentation, and a documentary; teams are also negotiating what material can be shared publicly and what remains restricted. She framed the project as both cultural preservation and civic recognition: "We are creating a repository for some materials that will link to the Library of Congress," she said, and described plans for returning materials and staging exhibits in Kansas libraries.
Her presentation underscored how festive practices both sustain immigrant families economically and reinforce social bonds across generations; she said community participants welcomed the documentation and that the research team aimed to "bring that project back" to the towns where it was recorded.
