The potent aroma of empedrado salad and enchiladas de jocoque wafted through the Wonders Hall cafeteria Wednesday. In the background, an eight-piece mariachi band played for the diners.

Wonders Hall staff hosted a Cesar Chavez Dinner in honor of the Mexican-American activist. Cesar Chavez Day is Wednesday, but organizer and assistant hall director Cindy Juarez said a conflict pushed the event forward.

"All of our schedules are a little off," she said.

Juarez said the South Complex resident mentor staff and word of mouth helped make students aware of the event.

In addition to the food and the band, the cafeteria showed a documentary video called "The Fight in the Field."

"It's about Chavez's life, why he became an activist, why he was motivated to do what he did," Juarez said.

Cesar Chavez was a Mexican-American born in Arizona in 1927. He worked in the fields for most of his young life. From the 1960s to the '80s, he fasted and used boycotts to fight for the rights of Chicano migrant workers. He died in 1993.

The cafeteria was decorated with sombreros, panchos and tablecloths in red, white and green - the colors of the Mexican flag. Informational fliers about Chavez also were placed on tables.

Some cafeteria workers also wore sombreros. Education freshman Amy Gnotek's was particularly big - she said she was specifically looking forward to working Wednesday.

"They gave (the sombrero) to me. They said to have fun. I was all about it," she said. "The mariachi band is awesome."

The band was composed mostly of Detroit-area residents. The members varied from a 14-year-old girl who has been playing for four years to a man born in Mexico who has played for 20 years.

"Most of the men that play, this is their profession," Victoria Bueno said. Bueno's husband, José, is the manager of the band, but he couldn't come to the event.

Business freshman Christina Dickson said she knew the event was going on. She and her friends came to check it out.

"I've never heard mariachi," she said. "It's cool though; I like it."

Some other students, however, were surprised when they came to dinner.

"I had no idea," human resource management freshman Sarah Long said. "The food's good. I like the fruit salsa."