At 10 o’clock in the morning, Wild Rose Artisan Gallery owner Monica Zanetti unlocks the shop right across from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and sets out her shirts while prepping to greet guests.

Monarch butterflies on painted canvases cover the walls, an homage to their migration south from North America to South America. The store is more than an art gallery to Zanetti, who’s made it a welcoming spot for Springfield’s Latinx community.

“I’m trying to get (Hispanic people) to feel comfortable to come downtown and be a part of the community,” Zanetti said. “It’s all about seeing yourself somewhere.”

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Zanetti, whose roots are Zinapecuaro Mexican descent, moved to Springfield from the San Francisco Bay area over 15 ago to relocate for her husband’s career while developing her decades-long passion with art in the capital city. Her art style is bright with strong fluorescent blues and creamsicle orange, painting roses around Lincoln, monarch butterflies in Springfield and words of support in Spanish on canvas.

“There’s just so much culture with indigenous people,” Zanetti said, “There’s Day of the Dead, we get colorful and it’s all about living your life and with community. When I go to Mexico it’s all about community, so when I come here that is what I try to do.”

Springfield’s Hispanic population is only 3.10% according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey. 

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs hosted a celebration on Sept. 18 to commemorate the month and honor the work of community leaders across the state. 

Zanetti was one of eight Latino leaders to receive the outstanding award, for her craftsmanship and outstanding achievement in arts and humanities, like establishing the Wild Rose Scholarship Fund to help local children develop an understanding with Latino music and culture. In 2022, the fund helped run an event for children to listen to a mariachi play traditional music and talk about the culture behind the songs.

“What I love about my events is that you’re going to see diversity,” Zanetti said. “I ask, ‘where’s the diversity?’ and they’re like ‘they don’t come’, well are you making them feel special when they come?”

Five years ago, Zanetti fulfilled a lifelong dream of owning a retail shop to display her art drawing from her Mexican roots through purchasing the Wild Rose from its original owners in 2020. Since then, she has provided more than 20 local artists a venue to display their passion projects with a portion of sales found toward the fund. Her work has been featured in San Francisco’s historic City Hall, Mexican Historical Museum Gift Shop, Sacred Art and Pilsen Outpost and has held a speech at the Illinois State Museum.

To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with the city, the Wild Rose will hold a fiesta all day long on Saturday, Oct. 5, with party games and good food from scratch. Guests can try their hand at loteria, a Mexican bingo game, and try out different games every hour.

“I love my community so the best way to grow it is to be a part of it,” Zanetti said. “The more we volunteer to make it better is manpower.”

A full list of awardees for this year can be found on Illinoistreasurer.gov.

Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for The State Journal-Register. She can be reached at CLGrant@gannett.com; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted