ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Hundreds of people gathered Sunday outside Executive Education Charter School in Allentown, near Coca-Cola Park, to celebrate Puerto Rican culture and its mark on the city with the Puerto Rican Day Parade and Festival.
- Hundreds of people gathered in Allentown Sunday for this year's Puerto Rican Day Parade and Festival
- The event filled a parking lot behind the Executive Education Academy Charter School, near Coca Cola Park, with vendors, food and performers celebrating Puerto Rico
- Organizers said the festival is aimed at sharing Puerto Rican heritage with the community — especially kids with cultural ties to the island, but who were born elsewhere
This year marks Puertorrican Culture Preservation Inc.’s eleventh parade and festival in Allentown celebrating the U.S. territory, featuring food, performers, music and more.
Robert Velez, who heads up Puertorrican Culture Preservation with his wife Flor Velez, said the parade and festival are chiefly a way to share his culture.
Doing so is “very important… for the future of our children and our culture,” he said, particularly for kids with Puerto Rican heritage born in the mainland United States, like he was. “I know my culture because my grandparents told me and stuff like that. I think it’s very important to teach our kids the culture.”
Despite the heat, there was no shortage of people, from the Lehigh Valley and elsewhere, ready to participate. An hour and a half after the festival began, cars – many draped with the Puerto Rican flag – were still lined up for nearly a mile to get parking.
Among the revelers was Cynthia Mota, vice president of Allentown City Council.
“What we're doing is celebrating the Puerto Rican culture, the diversity that we have here in the city of Allentown,” she said, noting that Allentown is more than half Latino.
“This is a country that is founded by immigrants. We have to celebrate the diversity. We have to celebrate the culture. We have to celebrate who we are.”Cynthia Mota, vice president of Allentown City Council
“This is a country that is founded by immigrants. We have to celebrate the diversity. We have to celebrate the culture. We have to celebrate who we are.”
Sunday’s celebration began in the morning outside Allentown City Hall, where volunteers and local officials raised the Puerto Rican flag over the city government building.
From there, a parade mostly composed of flag-bedecked cars, made its way down Front Street and across the Lehigh River to the festival grounds, near the charter school and Coca Cola Park.
There waiting was a stage, vendors selling red, white and blue clothing and stands serving all manner of Puerto Rican food, from empanadas, tostones and amarillos to lechon, a whole roasted pig.
Reggaetón echoed across the festival, playing from speakers at vendors’ tents as well as modified cars with supersized stereos, the thumping bass from each and competing for attention.
Live performances were celebrated by headline Puerto Rican performers Oscarito “El Mas Loco” and Michael Stuart. Local musicians like Herencia Jibara, Nuni and Baby Jaon also performed, along with traditional dance groups from the area.
While the benefits for Puerto Rican children of knowing their culture are immense, Valez said the festival is good for the city as a whole, too.
“This is a unity thing,” he said. “We get the community for one day — it will become Puerto Rican and unite.”
