United Latino Society brings car culture to UMass Dartmouth
Sep 18, 2023
Stance Innovators founders Gil Perez and Jay Hernandez helped promote the car meet. Photos by Sean Flannelly
Dan Vigue and Jimbo Built hung out at the car meet for hours, meeting all kinds of new people.
Some cars showed up as part of the same brand or network, all decked out with a similar decal.
While many of the vehicles at the meet were newer models that had been customized, some retro flare shined through too.
Mikey Camara and his nephew Jayden in front of Camara’s car.
A DJ provided music for the crowd.
Drivers in North Dartmouth on Sunday, Sept. 17 may have been surprised to see a cohort of customized, souped-up vehicles on the road, including some cars nearly touching the ground with flared out tires, and others with bold, eye-catching paint jobs.
The customized cars and the enthusiasts driving them were heading to UMass Dartmouth’s Lot 3, where the school’s United Latino Society hosted a car meet, an event to show off customized cars, hang out in the sun and meet other gearheads.
President of the United Latino Society Alejandro Franco said the car meet was an event they’ve talked about for over a year now, and which took a full three months to plan.
“Since joining ULS, we’re always talking about ‘Ok, how can we [bring] the car community and latin culture to Dartmouth?”, Franco said. “We want to show them what our community represents … and show them how fun it is and what we are about.”
The United Latino Society partnered with car enthusiast brand and network Stance Innovators. Co-founders Jay Hernandez and Gil Perez knew organizers from the United Latino Society from high school in Boston, and those connections served as the basis for the partnership.
“It’s just kind of like an end of the summer hurrah before everyone puts their cars away since the winter is coming up,” Hernandez said. “Have a good time with our friends and enjoy cars.”
The company wants to build positivity in the car community, Hernandez said, and connect with people who share the same passions.
“We don’t support racing or takeover stuff, this is kind of our scene where we’re just posted up with our cars and this is kind of what we like to promote,” Hernandez said.
Mikey Camara, who came with a 2017 Nissan Infiniti Q60, said he came just for “the vibe” and “good energy,” and to have fun with the family on a Sunday.
Dan Vigue only drives the car he brought on the weekends, which made the car meet an easy sell. He heard about the event through promoter Stance Innovations, and said he loved the crowd that was there on Sunday.
“Just being here for the past couple hours, I’ve already made 15 new friends,” Vigue said.
The organization process was difficult, but Franco said UMass Dartmouth was supportive of the idea from the beginning.
Car enthusiasts and supporters of ULS can keep up with the event organizers on Instagram @stanceinn and @unitedlatinosociety.
