The Reynolda House held its eighth annual Hispanic fiesta, Festival de las Artes, Oct. 6, celebrating the Winston-Salem community's blend of cultures.

Inside Reynolda House were English- and Spanish-speaking tour guides offering background on various paintings. Outside were tango and mambo dancing, live music, art demonstrations for kids and refreshments.

The activities appealed to a variety of age groups.

"It's great because the different types of activities allows full families to come as well as students," said Spanish instructor Encarna Turner. The free afternoon of Hispanic culture attracted approximately 1,500 to 2,000 people.

This year's festival was the first hosted in collaboration with the university since Reynolda House united with the university last spring. Over 30 volunteers helped staff the event, many of them university students.

Judith Smith, the head of public relations for Reynolda House, has been doing Hispanic outreach for years. Originally a Spanish teacher from Texas, her objective was to bring students studying Spanish together with native speakers and members of the local Hispanic population.

"I wanted to bring some salsa to the community," Smith said.

The advertising was done through Hispanic radio stations, churches, Hispanic newspapers, fliers and schools.

Julio Lazaro attended the festival with his two sons and felt the fiesta was good for the kids because it was family-oriented.

The band West End Mambo entertained under a tent with lively Latin music. Bailes de Panama, a dance troupe consisting of two instructors from Panama along with 15 students from Jones Elementary School, an immersion school in Greensboro, performed dances in brightly colored traditional costumes.

Two couples performed Argentinean tango, preceded by an engaging background talk about the intimate dance.

Mike Vanbuskirk, who brought his children to the Fiesta because his wife was volunteering, liked the music best of all.

"It's great just to come out and listen to the music," he said. "I like it; it's different, you don't get to hear much music like this around here."

In addition, a variety of arts and crafts stations were set up outside for children to make collages, mona-molas, bracelets and more.

Sara Gonzalez, 11-year-old daughter of assistant Spanish professor Luis Gonzalez, who was tracing tiles with her younger brother, Andres, found the fiesta to be especially exciting.

"I like the cookies and the lemonade and the crafts," she said. "It's really fun because you can meet a lot of friends and there are a lot of different people here."

Senior Ben Steere, a Spanish minor, attended the fiesta as a painting guide. "The people here are a pretty good cross-section of the Winston-Salem area," he said. "They're having a ball."

Freshman Deeann Carter found the Fiesta to be very informative.

"I didn't know there was this much of a Hispanic presence in Forsyth county," she said. "It's enlightening."