Buford Highway!
Culture, Food, and Diversity
For one of our last trips of the semester we traveled to Buford Highway. We learned that Buford Highway has a very interesting past of once being predominantly white to now mostly immigrants of very diverse ethnicities. We went to three very unique places during our time on Buford Highway that included, CPACS, the Buford Highway Farmers Market, and Plaza Fiesta.
Our first stop was CPACS, which is a Center for Pan Asian Community Services. They help immigrants get housing, transportation, jobs, and children of all ages with school work and pursuing dreams. They also help the people stay connected to their own heritage with different support groups or dance classes.
The next stop was the Buford Highway Farmers Market. We ate lunch and then walked around the store. We were able to see many different varieties of foods that you don’t see in a typical grocery store.
Our final stop was Plaza Fiesta. As we arrived at Plaza Fiesta it looked very small from the outside, but inside was an arcade and lots of shops from quinceanera dresses, tattoo and body piercing parlors, and almost anything else you could think of.
We met the owner of W&J Instant Shoe Repair. He is originally from Liberia, West Africa. His business has been there for seven years. He doesn’t live on Buford Highway, but he said, “I wouldn’t change a thing about the culture of it.”
We also met a lady who worked at a cell phone kiosk. She currently lives on Buford Highway and has lived there four to five years. She is originally from El Salvador.
As we left Buford Highway and all of the sites we visited we truly knew what it truly meant to love ATL. We heard lots of heart-warming stories and saw that people still carry their past with them there everyday.
