Amid the growth of its Spanish-speaking population, Newark’s South Ward will host its annual Rumba Latina festival on Saturday, Sept. 27.

The festival runs from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Clinton Avenue Soundstage, 450 Clinton Ave.

It’s timed to coincide with September’s official designation as National Hispanic Heritage Month. The federal celebration of the people and culture of the Spanish-speaking world was officially created in 1988 under legislation signed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, who expanded a weeklong observance inked in 1968 by Democratic President Lyndon Johnson.

While Newark’s Spanish-speaking community has traditionally been concentrated in the city’s northern reaches, officials say there’s a growing Latino population in the South Ward, which borders the largely Span

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