COLORADO SPRINGS — As Hispanic Heritage Month continues, News5 is highlighting hispanic-owned businesses in the Colorado Springs community.
Milagros Cocina Mexicana, located off of N. Academy, opened its doors about two months ago. One way to honor and recognize Hispanic Heritage Month is supporting businesses like it and eating food from different cultures.
“The people telling us, ‘I’ve never seen this dish or what is this dish?’ And we get to educate them,” said Eric Morales, the co-owner.
The restaurant is an up-scale Mexican restaurant. The menu showcases regional flavors of Mexico, and the decorations on the wall show the rich culture.
“I think the biggest thing for me and for us, is just for people to know our actual culture and introducing them to how beautiful the hispanic culture is,” said Morales.
Meanwhile, Atrevida Beer Company opened four years ago, near N. Nevada. It's the first latin-owned brewery in Colorado ran by a female head brewer. Her name is Jess Fierro.
“When my wife started this thing, there was only two women brewers out here, then my wife joined in, and then it started to grow from there,” said Richard Fierro, the co-owner and Jess's husband.
He said, for his wife, being a Latina in the brewing industry came with its own set of challenges in a male-dominated field.
“It's been amazing to watch her do this and empower my daughter and empowering other women to learn how to brew and to start really getting into this industry,” said Fierro.
The business prides itself on serving diversity on tap, and inviting people to celebrate all hispanic cultures, including Mexican through their beer.
“It’s all about sharing and giving people an opportunity to experience something or just to taste a different flavor that they've never had in their life,” said Fierro.
For these hispanic business owners, Hispanic Heritage month is also a time of recognition and learning more about one another.
“We just want to be seen and this is a time of the year where at least hopefully we're out there experiencing different cultures,” said Fierro.
“I think, just people coming in with an open mind and being able to come in and experience something different,” said Morales.
Hispanic Heritage Month runs through Saturday, October 15.
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