Alaska's Hispanic Heritage Month is law for the first time this year

Anchorage will mark Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month, Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, for the third year running and the first under state law. Senate Bill 40, sponsored by Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, was signed into law May 8, 2026, and took effect Aug. 6.

The Senate passed it 20-0 in April 2025; the House did not vote until April 30, 2026, passing it 36-3.

The resolution quotes Gray-Jackson: the bill "is more than a recognition; it is a message [that] tells our Hispanic community that you are welcome here in Alaska, alongside all of us."

Hispanic or Latino residents make up 8.2 percent of Alaska's population, about 60,450 people, the state's second-largest cultural group after Alaska Natives, operating nearly 3,000 businesses statewide. The resolution traces that presence to the canneries of the 1900s, the Gold Rush, the 1964 earthquake rebuild and the oil boom.

It starts on the 15th, the independence anniversary of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico, Chile and Belize follow.

All 12 Assembly members and Mayor LaFrance sponsored it, on Tuesday's consent agenda.

The Municipality has scheduled a Hispanic Heritage Month Artisan Fair for October 2 at the Anchorage Museum, 6 to 9 p.m.