CLEVELAND — Music filled the streets in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood Friday night. The Cleveland neighborhood celebrated the culture of many of the families that call it home.
At the Cleveland Public Library in the neighborhood, a celebration kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month. Dr. Raquel Ortiz read and sang one of the books she wrote, "When Julia Danced Bomba."
"Some of the songs that we share are bilingual. Because I was born and raised here, and a lot of our kids here dance in and out of Spanish and English," said Ortiz, author and artist in residence at Cleveland Public Library.
Ortiz is on a mission to improve literacy in her community. For the last year, she has traveled to many Cleveland area public libraries, reading her books in Spanish and English.
"When we tell stories, people remember better, and it enters into their heads and into their hearts, I like to say," Ortiz said.
Proudly Puerto Rican, the characters in Ortiz's books help children see representation.
"We need to see ourselves. Because when you're nowhere, you might think that you're no one," Ortiz said.
Husband and wife duo Ivan and Nydvia Ruiz own Rincon Criollo. They have been serving their Puerto Rican family recipes to Clevelanders for decades.
"I love cooking, I love cooking, my grandma showed me and my Mom," Ivan said.
All their food is homemade every day. A labor of love, being served on Friday night in the same neighborhood where their love story began. The couple got married at St. Michael's church 33 years ago this month.
Just down the street from that celebration, News 5 showed the beginning of a mural at the end of July.
"I heard one night that it's going to be about a landscape from Guatemala, I got so excited because I am from there," said Hector Castellanos Lara, an artist in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood.
With collaboration from the community, neighborhood sponsorship from Sherwin Williams and building owner Gary Grace, artists Tessa LeBaron, Hector Castellanos Lara, Paige Knoefel, and Shawn Mishak finished the colorful landscape just in time for Hispanic Heritage Month.
The mural is a celebration of Guatemala and its culture, featuring the Quetzal bird.
"We're here, and we're trying to make Cleveland and Lorain County, where I'm from, better places, and to share, to share our culture and history and to become a part of the community here in Ohio," Ortiz said.
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