COLUMBUS – One look at the emerald green dress and Astrea Garcia knew it was the one. 

Gold sequins and glitter covered the bodice, snaking onto the sleeves that draped off the shoulder. 

In the fitting room, Alma Sagastume laced Astrea into the corset. She fluffed the layers of glittery tulle petticoats into place, and showed Astrea where to grab the hoop skirt buried under the massive dress to make it easier for the 4-foot-10 girl to walk. 

It's a ritual Sagastume has guided teenage girls through for eight years at My 15 City, her dress and decorations shop in northeast Nebraska. 

"It's not the dress, it's the attitude of the quinceañera," she tells Astrea in Spanish. 

Come January, Astrea will be the first of her friends to turn 15. That means she'll be the first of her friends to have her quinceañera, a coming of age celebration in Latin American culture meant to mark a girl's transition into becoming a young woman. 

Every year, more and more girls book their quinceañeras at event spaces throughout Columbus and neighboring towns. And as Nebraska's Latino population continues to grow, so too does the network of small business owners like Sagastume – the caterers, photographers, decorators, DJs, dress sellers and more who make glitzy and glamorous quinceañeras happen even in the most remote corners of the state. 

From 1990 to 2020, Nebraska's Latino population ballooned from 36,969 to 234,715. Latinos were the source of nearly all population growth in the state from 2022 to 2023. 

In the 1990s, when Nebraska saw its biggest immigration wave, about 40% of Latinos living in the state were born in another country. Now, that number has declined to just under a third. Instead, it's second- and third- generation immigrants who continue to grow Nebraska's Latino population. 

"The diversity that the foreign-born population brought to Nebraska is today driving the growth," said Josie Gatti Schafer, director of the Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. "That means when you meet someone that's Latino, they're not foreign-born. They're Nebraskans." 

***

When Jim Bulkley moved to Columbus in 1976, a local Catholic church still held mass in Polish. 

"They needed the Polish mass to help their older Polish citizens feel comfortable," Bulkley, Columbus’ mayor, said. "That's no different than having a Spanish mass to help our Hispanic families today feel more comfortable." 

Nebraska's Latino population has been growing since the 1990s, when meatpacking plants started recruiting workers from Mexico. That movement continues today as people from Central America search for work. 

From 2010 to 2020, the Latino population grew by about 40%. Nebraska's total population grew by 7% in the same amount of time. 

That growth has been even more evident in Greater Nebraska, where Latinos made up 9.4% of the population in 2010. 

By 2020, that grew to 12.5%.  

"The Latino population is the reason why those counties are actually gaining people," said Cristian Doña-Reveco, director of the Office of Latino and Latin American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. "They're rejuvenating and they're replenishing the population." 

It's a shift that can be seen in Columbus. 

In 1990, 19,480 people called the small city home. Hispanic residents totaled 167 – less than 1% of the population, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. 

In 30 years, Columbus' total population increased by 4,548 people. 

Its Latino population increased by 5,926. 

Columbus has always drawn people in for work across a range of industries, Bulkley said. People will move to work at companies like Cargill, Behlen Manufacturing, BD Medical and the nearby ethanol plant. Or, they move to Columbus to commute to the Cargill plant in Schuyler, or the Tyson plant in Madison, both a half-hour drive away. 

The mix of industry wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the immigrant community of Columbus, he said. 

"They’re going to make needles and medical supplies somewhere," Bulkley said. "If we can't give them the people to do it, they'll go somewhere else, plain and simple." 

Immigrants have changed Columbus' small business landscape as well, he said, filling storefronts with new restaurants and services. 

“They’re revitalizing the local economy … now, there’s a store open where there wasn’t one for years,” Doña-Reveco said. “It’s responding to a need of the community. The first idea they get is, I want to have something that I had from home that I can't find here. So I'm just going to procure it myself." 

This turns into bakeries, grocery stores, restaurants, and in this case – quinceañera dress shops. 

*** 

As Astrea's 15th birthday approached, her mother Tlali Garcia gave her a choice: She could have a car, a trip to Rome or a quinceañera. 

Astrea chose the quinceañera. 

For Tlali Garcia, her daughter's quinceañera is a chance to keep Hispanic traditions alive. Her parents – Astrea's grandparents – moved to Nebraska from Mexico. Her father has worked in Schuyler for 25 years now. Northeast Nebraska is home. 

The children and grandchildren of immigrants like Tlali and Astrea make up the Nebraskans driving much of the state's population growth – the long-term result of immigration patterns that started as far back as the ’80s in Nebraska. 

Today, Nebraska's Latino population is young. In 2022, 40% of Latinos in the state were 17 years old or younger, compared to 25% of the state overall, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Where Latinos are being born is changing, too. Through the ’90s, Latinos were moving into the state at a rate three times higher than they were being born here, according to UNO’s Center for Public Affairs Research. Today, the opposite is true. More Latinos are being born in Nebraska than are moving here from other countries, according to UNO’s Office of Latino and Latino American Studies. In 2000, 40% of Latinos living in Nebraska were foreign-born. Today, that number has declined to just under a third. 

In Platte County, where Columbus is, 11.3% of the county's population is foreign-born, while 21.5% of the population is Latino. Neighboring Colfax County is 32.2% foreign-born and 46.1% Latino. Across the state in Scotts Bluff County, the population is 4.9% foreign-born and 24.9% Latino. 

Population growth driven mostly by immigration tends to be new movement, said Doña-Reveco. Newcomers might be more transient and less likely to integrate into their community. 

"But when we have growth due to the children of immigrants, what we are seeing is a larger sense of belonging to the community," Doña-Reveco said. "They are part of the community, they are going to our schools, they're going to be working. This is where the future of the state comes from in terms of population." 

***

With its bubblegum pink walls and rainbow racks of dresses, My 15 City is an oasis of color in the drab strip mall next to a Hy-Vee. 

A window display of dresses greets you as you walk in – lavender with delicate flowers and long tulle sleeves; red and gold with a cape to match; a huge white skirt embroidered with gold that sells for $1,600. 

Sagastume doesn't have a favorite dress – she's seen too many. 

She left Guatemala about 25 years ago, and left behind her first dress store, Floristeria Dalia. Her sister still runs that shop. 

It wasn't until 2016 that Sagastume opened this store. The family had bounced from California to Nebraska during the recession. In Columbus, Sagastume worked jobs at Camaco, a  manufacturing plant, and Pillen Family Farms, raising the piglets. 

She opened My 15 City after her fourth child was born. Being her own boss meant the kids had a place to go after school, and she had a schedule flexible enough to drop them off and pick them up during the day. 

My 15 City has everything you'd need for the traditions of a quinceañera, all symbolizing the end of childhood and beginning of adult responsibilities. 

There's the corner stuffed with boxes of bedazzled high heels. During a quinceañera, a girl will trade out her flat shoes for heels. Well-dressed dolls and teddy bears line the shelves of the store – "la ultima muñeca," or the last doll a girl will receive as she closes childhood. Tiaras covered in different gemstones fill a display case, meant to symbolize a girl's beauty in the eyes of God. There are racks of colorful tuxedo vests and less poofy dresses – outfits for the friends and family of the birthday girl who make up her "court" and perform dances during the party. 

Quinceañeras have ballooned into their own sector, similar to weddings. In Columbus, there are photographers dedicated to photoshoots of teenage girls in their ball gown dresses. Dress shops specializing in quinceañeras dot the state – from Lexington to Fremont to South Sioux City. In Grand Island, the glittering dresses sold by El Palacio fill a storefront on the city’s main street. 

Decorators like Sagastume keep stockpiles of satin fabric, greenery and shining chandeliers, and spend their weekends setting up and tearing down quinceañera decor. 

Sagastume travels to towns like Schuyler, Stanton, Fremont, Madison and Norfolk to set up her elaborate quinceañera decorations, draping fabric from the ceiling and placing floral arrangements. 

“May, June, July – we had a quinceañera almost every weekend,” she said. 

The industry is growing so big, Omaha-based dress store owner Claudia Ceja organizes a quinceañera expo every year now. Vendors from all over the state gather near Omaha and girls model the latest dresses and tiaras. She publishes Quinceañera Planning Magazine, highlighting vendors, publishing quinceañera announcements, and sharing tips for planning a quinceañera.

In Columbus, Sagastume said, quinceañera culture has gotten so popular that white teenagers will come to her shop wanting to buy a dress. 

They don't want a sweet 16, they tell her. They want a quinceañera, like their friend had. 

When Astrea walks out of the fitting room, her mother starts to get teary. Then her grandfather. Soon, all three are crying. 

It happens every time, Sagastume said. 

In January, Astrea will don her green dress. Family from Mexico, California, Texas and Nebraska will gather in a reception hall at the National Guard's Armory building in Columbus. Her brother will escort her through the reception, she'll share a dance with her grandfather.  

"She's going into a different chapter," her mother said. "She doesn't need me to hold her hand everywhere … this is going to be a good demonstration that she's turning into a beautiful young woman."

The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska’s first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.