Three CSU Pueblo Students Head to Fiesta Day Parade Ahead of Hispanic Heritage Month

By Soni Brinsko

Three CSU Pueblo students will ride down Santa Fe Avenue this Sunday, Sept. 6, as members of the 2026 Colorado State Fair Fiesta Queen Court, just over a week before National Hispanic Heritage Month begins on Sept. 15.

Stephanie Beltran, a sophomore studying biology and Spanish with a minor in chemistry, holds the title of First Attendant. Vashti Jordan Trujillo, who represents the student body through the Associated Students’ Government, was named Second Attendant and earned the Miss Congeniality title. Haylie Nicole Urias Gonzalez, a fellow sophomore double majoring in media and entertainment with a concentration in strategic communication and in Spanish, was named Third Attendant.

Each year, the Colorado State Fair Fiesta Queen Pageant selects an ambassador to represent the Hispanic community and its culture at the fair. This year’s court competed under the theme “Flor de Oro,” Spanish for “golden flower,” with the tagline “Where Heritage Blooms with Grace.” The pageant began in 1967 and for the last few years, has been held in Hoag Hall on the CSU Pueblo campus. The event is coordinated by the Colorado State Fair Fiesta Committee, which awards over $15,000 in scholarships each year, including a $5,500 scholarship for the Fiesta Queen.

This year’s queen, Anahi Alexis Vasquez, studies nursing at Pueblo Community College and founded Pinky’s Packages.

For Beltran, this year marked her second time entering the competition. She was named Second Attendant in 2025 and set her sights higher this year.

“I want to reach higher,” Beltran said, hoping she would place as queen. “I ended up getting first attendant, and I hope I can do it [the pageant] again next year and go higher than that.”

Beltran and Vasquez have been close friends since sixth grade. In fact, Beltran was the one who encouraged Vasquez to compete last year when Vasquez was unsure whether she wanted to enter.

“I was so happy for her, because I was the one who told her to do the pageant,” Beltran said. “She did it and she won, and I was happy for her.”

Beltran competed in personal interview, speech, talent, evening wear and an impromptu question round. For the talent portion, she performed a polka from Chihuahua, Mexico, with a friend from Ballet Folklórico days. When judges asked what she wants her generation remembered for, she pointed to the wider range of opportunities available to women today and expressed hope that her generation will continue to build on that progress. She said women in past generations often faced pressure to marry and raise children at a young age, while women today have more room to grow, travel, build careers and choose their own paths.

Beltran’s parents immigrated from Mexico, her mother from Michoacán and her father from Sonora, before they settled in Pueblo. Her older sister, Marisa Beltran, once ran for Pueblo City Council.

Beyond the pageant, Beltran serves as vice president of the Political Science Club at CSU Pueblo and belongs to Young Invincibles, a Denver-based organization advocating for higher education, health care and civic engagement. She plans to travel to Washington, D.C., in September to advocate on the group’s behalf and hopes to collect letters from children at the immigration center in Aurora to read to Congress.

After graduation, Beltran plans to become a veterinarian and hopes to directly serve Spanish-speaking pet owners.

“I feel like people overlook animals,” Beltran said. “Especially in the Hispanic community, (where) pets mean a lot. I want to be able to be that bridge where I can speak to Latinos who only speak Spanish, and they can have that care for their animal.”

Trujillo, the Second Attendant, brings her Fiesta title back to a campus where she already has a voice. As a member of the Associated Students’ Government, she represents her fellow students on the issues that shape campus life, from policy to student funding. Her peers on the court selected her as Miss Congeniality, a recognition of how she carried herself alongside them through months of preparation and competition.

This was Urias Gonzalez’s second year competing in the pageant. Before joining the Fiesta court, Urias Gonzalez held the title of Ms. Pueblo, a moment she said brought her mother to tears.

Urias Gonzalez said the deeper she has become involved in public life, from Ms. Pueblo to the Fiesta court and her advocacy work, the more she has leaned into her heritage. She wants her platform to push back against the narratives that follow immigrant families.

“We kind of have to be involved with politics when it comes to being immigrants and how it’s viewed as a challenge not an opportunity,” Urias Gonzalez said. “We have to get involved and show them that just because there are certain bad people out there, that does not define us.”

Urias Gonzalez was born in Arizona near the border and spent time in Colorado, North Carolina, New Mexico and Texas as her family followed work in the oil fields. She now plans to graduate as a first-generation college student and become a news reporter in Hispanic media.

“I want my mom to turn on that TV and understand what I’m saying,” Urias Gonzalez said.

She also leads an initiative called Wonder to Sonder, built around the idea of empathy for strangers whose lives carry challenges no one else sees. Through it, she hopes to help build schools and water wells in developing countries.

Fiesta Day, often called the most popular day of the Colorado State Fair, falls on Sunday, Sept. 6, this year. The Fiesta Queen and her court will ride down Santa Fe Avenue in Pueblo before the parade continues to the fairgrounds. The celebration comes shortly before National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15.