Date:
2/7/2003
Contact: Wendel Sloan at 505.562.2253
Reporter: Colleen Wright
PORTALES – Valentine's Day is a day of romantic celebrations all over the world. Eastern New Mexico University is hosting their nineteenth annual Festival Romanico for the special day.
Festival Romanico will be held Feb. 14 beginning at 9 a.m. in the ENMU Campus Union Building. The Festival is a celebration of romance languages, languages that come from Latin such as French and Spanish. Dr. Margaret Willen started the festival 22 year ago.
"It's hard now that she has retired," says Dr. Vitelio Contreras, the new Festival director. "She worked so hard to make the festival what it is today; we really miss having her around to help."
According to Dr. Contreras, preparation for the Festival began in October. "A lot of hard work goes into the preparation of the Festival," Dr. Contreras admitted, "but it is always worth it when it everything is completed."
Students come from high schools all around New Mexico to compete at the gala. The competitions will be in: art, individual recitation, and skits in both languages. As of now, 12 high schools are signed up to compete.
The schools are: Lovington, Clovis, Portales, Artesia, Carlsbad, Muleshoe, Clovis Christian, Jal, San Jon, Texico, Tucumcari, and Yucca Jr. High.
"The Festival is a great opportunity for Eastern and Portales to get together and share in the festivities," says Dr. Contreras." Everyone will have the chance to learn something new about the different Romanic cultures."
The celebration is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Contreras at 505.562.2149.