Exhibit: March 2025 – July 2025
Billings has a lively Hispanic community with decades of a community-driven fiesta and public celebrations dating back to the 1930s.
The Hispanic community grew in Billings during the 1920s-30s for opportunities from the Great Western Sugar Company. Laborers were recruited from Mexico and the Southwest to work the beet fields. The factory created homes for the laborers to live in order to create a steady labor source year-round. Labors also known as the Betabeleros brought their families to stay in the adobe structures which became known as la colonia. Despite economic and racial struggles, families grew, and traditions continued.
Over 70 years later, the fiesta is still celebrated today. Hispanic and non-Hispanic community members come together to enjoy traditions that have been passed along through generations. Experience stories, objects, and culture in Viva La Fiesta exhibition at the Western Heritage Center.
