Today is the last day to buy tickets for the Latino Heritage Banquet, which will feature Latino food, a speaker and a dance.

The banquet, a part of Eastern’s Latino Heritage Celebration 2001, will be at 6 p.m. Saturday in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

The celebration, a month-long festival headed up by the Office of Minority Affairs, seeks to provide an opportunity for Latino students to show their heritage and to offer students who may not have experienced Latino culture, or have experienced it a little and want to learn more, an opportunity to do so, said Isabel Castro, celebration coordinator.

The event will begin with a cocktail hour for mingling and a cash bar will be available.

The dinner will consist of a variety of Latino food, including Taino chicken, which is a Puerto Rican dish; Brazilian fish stew; beans from the Dominican Republic; a Mexican dessert and other Latino foods.

“The food is usually wonderful,” Castro said.

Speaker Lisa Terry-Avios, a poet and freelance writer for “Hispanic” magazine, will deliver a message on what it means to be a Latino today following the dinner, Castro said.

Terry-Avios, who hails from Chicago, also will look toward the future for Latinos in her message.

In addition, she will discuss a concept she calls “embracing the hyphen,” which has to do with Latino-Americans’ acceptance of being members of two cultures, Castro said.

Following the speech, a live DJ from Chicago will provide both Latino music and regular dance music for a dance, Castro said.

Though the banquet makes up only a part of the month-long celebration, it is the one event that’s really a celebration, Castro said. “It’s more of a party as far as the atmosphere.”

She said the banquet is the largest event of the celebration, with the most people coming together for one purpose: to celebrate Latino heritage.

Castro said anyone of any ethnicity should come to the banquet, including students, faculty, staff and members of the Charleston community.

Both Latinos and those of other ethnicities could learn something from coming to the banquet, she said.

“Latinos can get to know more people that are of their culture, especially because it’s at the beginning of the year,” she said. “They (attendees) can learn about another culture or their own culture,” she said.

“Latino students may be re-experiencing something they haven’t been able to experience for a couple of weeks since they’ve been away from home, while (those of other ethnicities) may be experiencing something they’ve never experienced before.”

Castro said in the past, about 180 people have attended the event.

“A lot of students come out and they’re kind of wary of going to a new event, but they usually don’t regret it once they go,” Castro said.

Tickets for the event are $12 for adults and $6 for children and Eastern students with a Panther Card ID. Tickets must be purchased by 3 p.m. today at the EIU University Ticket Office.

The Latino Heritage Celebration 2001 kicks off with the movie, “Girl Fight,” starring Michelle Rodriguez as a female boxer in her teens.

The film will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday in the University Ballroom of the union. Admission is free to Eastern students with a Panther Card ID and $2 for the public.