KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – September is National Hispanic Heritage Month, and some businesses and groups are connecting their culture to everyone in East Tennessee.
Rene Villagomez has owned La Michoacana Movil for 3 years. It’s named after where his parents came from in Mexico.
“Movil because we started out as an ice cream truck food, and during COVID we had to close,” he said.
Villagomez said his shop draws in customers because of the bright colors and the Mexican ice cream flavors.
“It’s more like Mexican eggnog, Tequila, there’s the Mexican twinkie, the rum raisin,” he said.
Villagomez prides himself with keeping people coming in because of the quality of the sweets and food.
“We try to keep it really authentic with the authentic recipes that I had to go to Mexico and learn for a good six months,” he said.
The Knoxville Chamber of Commerce reports Hispanic-owned businesses contribute $800 billion to the U.S. Economy and support 3.5 million jobs each year.
Last year in the Knoxville area, Centro Hispano reported helping nearly 140 entrepreneurs and 15 business grow.
Villagomez said he enjoys seeing more Hispanic and Latino businesses in the area.
“There’s Guatemalan stores, there’s Honduran stores,” he said. “We try to keep everything really authentic, all those stores, so a lot of people could try it. I know a lot of people can’t go to Mexico or other places, so we try to bring it here to them.”
Hola Hora Latina is a nonprofit aimed to connect the Knoxville community through art and culture. President Pedro Tomas said Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to enjoy everyone’s different backgrounds.
“It’s just a wonderful celebration of our roots as Americans that we have become to celebrate our roots together and also to learn from each other,” he said.
Tomas said the nonprofit hosts many events to show off different cultures. He said one includes their popular Hola festival.
“To share each other’s ideals through family, through, of course, what do we all have in common?” he said. “Food, dance, music.”
The Hola festival starts next weekend at World’s Fair Park next Friday and Saturday.
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