As Hispanic Heritage Month gets started, El Centro Serna is bringing a lowrider exhibition to the tailgate of Sacramento State’s game against North Dakota State on Saturday, Sept. 19. 

The tailgate and exhibition are connected to the Latine Heritage Night football game and will take place from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. 

The event will be located outside Hornet Stadium, near the Alumni Center. 

A lowrider is a car that is built to be closer to the ground and often has hydraulics that allow the car to move in different directions. Lowriders have long been tied to Latine culture. The exhibition will feature 15 to 20 cars, according to El Centro Serna director Juana Zaragoza. 

“It’s an opportunity for us to showcase lowrider culture,” Zaragoza said. “There’s a lot of connections to the Chicano community and the Chicano history.” 

Chicano culture stems from a fight for equal rights, as the Chicano Movement in the 1960s and 1970s fought for education and civil rights. This movement also fought to take back the name and use it as a form of cultural expression. 

Rocio Mejia, a criminal justice major, sees the event as a way for people to share their passions. It also gives people a chance to learn more about the culture.

“Having this event is an opportunity for people to get to learn about other people’s hobbies and to learn about lowriders,” Mejia said.

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Abbygail Santiago-Sanchez, a family and consumer sciences major, is excited to be able to experience a car show for the first time. 

“I think it will be fun. I’ve seen them, but I’ve never gone to one,” Santiago-Sanchez said. “I want to go to see what the vibes are.” 

There will be multiple Sac State alumni with cars at the exhibition, according to Zaragoza. Among them, a husband and wife, parents to a current Sac State student. 

“It’s really something that gets passed down for generations and stays in the families,” Zaragoza said. “We wanted to highlight that part of the culture that has often been seen as criminal, or wrong.” 

Previous laws in California made it so that cars couldn’t be modified to have parts of the car be lower to the ground than the rims. Authorities were also allowed to adopt rules and regulations against cruising, according to CalMatters.

Assembly Bill 436 changed regulations on cruising and the limits on car modifications.  Sacramento also removed “no cruising” signs in 2022. Mejia says this event will allow for people to learn more about these changes.

“During the event they can inform people about the bills that passed, because I didn’t even know about that,” Mejia said. “I feel like, since they decriminalized it, people are more likely to get into it now and see if they like it.”

The exhibition is the first at Sac State and will lead to a bigger show in the spring, according to Zaragoza. The event will give people a chance to connect and learn more about El Centro Serna and local car clubs. 

“It’s a bit of a preview, because in the spring we are planning a full car show,” Zaragoza said. “That car show will be connected to our outreach priorities when it comes to reaching out to high school students and letting them know that Sac State is an opportunity and an option for them.”

The exhibition will allow people to immerse themselves in the culture and connect with others.. 

“We’ll have a limited amount of pupusas, snacks and refreshments. It’s a good time to be in community, listen to music and hang out.” Zaragoza said. 

Santiago-Sanchez believes that this event and others like it are a good way to make students feel comfortable on campus.“Since there’s a lot of diversity on this campus it’s good to have these tailgates that can be directly for people,” Santiago-Sanchez said. “It makes us feel welcome.”