Mi Casa Es Su Casa Wednesdays will be from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Aug. 19, Sept. 16 and Oct. 21 at Ellipses Art Installation on the corner of Fifth and Franklin Streets in Columbus.
Photo provided
A new downtown event invites the community to feel welcomed with this sentiment: “My house is your house.”
Mi Casa Es Su Casa Wednesdays will start Aug. 19 at Ellipses Art Installation on the corner of Fifth and Franklin Streets in Columbus. In the span of three months, this event and two more will be held at the same time and place — Sept. 16 and Oct. 21 — all from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The first event is called “Fiesta on Fifth.”
The free community event series is presented by Su Casa Indiana in partnership with the Office of Downtown Development.
Karen Torres, resource development director of Su Casa Indiana, has been in her role for over a month, but the 26-year-old has been involved with Su Casa since she was seven, when her family moved to the area and was seeking resources for Latino families. Although she was so young, Torres said she acted as a “family leader,” getting the appropriate resources and translating information for her family. Su Casa helped her, and now she’s continuing its outreach for families like hers.
“I just felt very comfortable and felt like we had a support system,” Torres said of when she was young with Su Casa assistance. “So I let my guard down a little bit, was able to kind of be more of a child again.”
During Mi Casa Es Su Casa Wednesdays, there will be food vendors, art and craft vendors, kids’ activities, a DJ and community. Each of these Wednesdays will be different, including different themes, vendors and other entertainment.
In the brainstorming between Su Casa and The Office of Downtown Development to find a way to promote downtown while being more welcoming to the local Latino community, this event was born.
To first test the event, Torres said they are holding Mi Casa Es Su Casa for three Wednesdays this year, but would like to see it take off and grow eventually into an annual event with more spring months to hold it. Next year, she is anticipating reaching out to other local organizations to see who else is interested in contributing to the events.
These Wednesdays can become a regular occurance like First Thursdays Downtown and can become a source of fundraising for Su Casa, Torres said.
“I’m excited […] to be able to bring our community together and provide more fun activities for our families (in this) rough time, if we’re being honest,” she said. “It is a rough time for our Latino community and being able to just provide a little glimpse of that fun and excitement and community feel will really allow our community to feel a little safer and welcomed in our downtown space.”
Torres said Su Casa is seeking more partners for their future Mi Casa Es Su Casa Wednesdays and as they test out this new idea, they are open to trying various ideas to see what sticks.
To learn more about Su Casa and what it provides, visit sucasaindiana.org.
“I love that now I get the opportunity to be part of initiatives like this because when I was younger, these are the initiatives that helped me and allowed me and my family to grow and be successful,” Torres said. “And so I’m excited to be part of that change now.”
