You would think that the Trump Administration’s rabid anti-immigration rhetoric and policies would have put a damper on Madison’s annual El Día de los Niños event May 6 at the Goodman Community Center both in attendance and spirit.
But that just wasn’t the case. In fact, the attendance was as big as ever.
“We were thinking that not too many people would come just because they were afraid with all of the things that are going on in politics,” says Fabiola Hamdan, chair of the Latino Children and Families Council and longtime organizer of the event. “But the attendance was double what it has been in previous years. There were happy faces all over the place.”
Hamdan estimates that over 2,000 people enjoyed four hours of games, activities, educational opportunities, and employment, housing, and immigration information along with Latin American food, dance and song at the 14th annual El Día de los Niños event.
“I think this event is outgrowing our capacity as far as the location. I’m sitting back and thinking, ‘Maybe it’s time for a big organization to take over this because it’s just growing so fast,’” Hamdan laughs. “But everything went great overall. We’re definitely going to need to find a bigger place and maybe extended hours to do it all day and not just for four hours. The attendance was so large. But don’t get me wrong, the Goodman Center is great. We love having it there.”
El Día de los Niños (The Day of the Children) has its roots in Latin America, although it is also celebrated in Asian and European countries. It is a worldwide celebration of the child and family. This day recognizes children, pays homage to their importance in society, and endorses their well-being. In Madison, it was a day of games, face-painting, bouncy houses, crafts and fun.
The event has become a tradition for the Dane County Latino community and has grown bigger and bigger each year. It started 14 years ago with a festival at the Salvation Army and has been hosted at the Labor Temple on Madison’s south side and the Union Soccer Club in Oregon. The past five years it has been at the Goodman Community Center on Madison’s near east side.
“Not only has the event grown all of these years, but it seems like the Latino population is getting younger and younger. I saw so many young couples at the event,” Hamdan says. “The population is growing fast. You can see that in the younger population and in our schools.
“It’s such a very special tradition for our families to be able to attend an event like this,” she adds.
El Día de los Niños gives parents an opportunity to get information that they need, connect people to social service organizations, and to support and share resources, which is especially important given the current climate of uncertainty for many Latino families.
“There’s a lot happening around immigration locally and around the country, so we had immigration resources available where we helped families with their safety plan as far as having documentation and what to do in case of an emergency and who they would leave their kids with,” she says. “We had immigration attorneys and information available for childcare, housing, employment, etc.”
It’s a chance to meet local agencies and non-profits who set up booths throughout the Goodman Center. It’s also a chance to meet politicians and community leaders.
“[MMSD] Superintendent Jen Cheatham, Mayor Paul Soglin, County Executive Joe Parisi, [Police] Chief [Mike] Koval and [Fire] Chief [Steven] Davis … the community really has the opportunity to mingle and to ask questions and get to know their local authorities. That is important, too,” Hamdan says.
Many people have been coming to El Día de los Niños since it first started.
“A funny thing happened with some high schoolers who called me who wanted to participate in El Día de los Niños this year,” Hamdan says. “I was thinking that they wanted to volunteer like others. They said, ‘No, we’re going to dress up as clowns and we are going to make balloons for the kids. Can we do that?’ These were young people who participated in El Día de los Niños as kids and they wanted to give back. They came and did a wonderful job.”
El Día de los Niños 2017 closed with one of its signature events, the Parade of Latin American Nations — children display their cultural heritage by hoisting various flags from Spanish-speaking countries around the world and parading their way around the Goodman Community Center.
“That’s our favorite part,” Hamdan says. “Everybody loves that and it’s fun to see the children proudly wave the many flags and parade around the event.”
Fourteen years in, Hamdan still gets a big kick out El Día de los Niños.
“It’s a lot of work putting this all together but the day of, when you see families playing with their kids and parents asking questions and obtaining resources, you just feel great,” she says. “I’m so happy to be part of this because look at all of these children having fun. Everything is free and everything is in Spanish. The music is from Latin American. It’s a very indescribable feeling as a Latina. When you hear your language spoken everywhere and you see all of the traditional dances … it’s a cool feeling.”
