Latin fiesta

The aroma of fried and grilled beef and pork, seasoned rice, double-fried plantains and other Latino cuisine, coupled with a heavy flavor of Latino music and beautiful weather set the stage for a memorable Downtown Latino Festival.

Organized by the city’s Chamber of Hispanic Affairs to coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15), the free festival Saturday at the Bo Diddley Downtown Plaza has been held the past 14 years to celebrate Hispanic culture through crafts, dancing, food, music and traditional clothing.

This year’s festival was probably more meaningful than the others because of the ongoing conversations about building a wall along the Southern border of the United States to keep Mexicans and other Latinos from entering the country illegally, an organizer of the festival said.

“We are all about coming together to celebrate who we are, no matter what our nationalities, ethnicities and colors of skin are,” said Marta Hartmann, a Chamber of Hispanic Affairs board member.

Fausto Pazmin, president of the chamber, agreed with Hartmann.

“We are here to promote Hispanic culture through arts, food, music and people,” said Pazmin, one of the founders of the chamber. “The festival is also a bridge of our culture with American culture and an opportunity for people to experience Hispanic culture for themselves.”

The highlights of the festival included a parade of flags representing 21 Latin countries in Central and South America, and the Caribbean, musical performances by artists from Cuba and Puerto Rico and a dance routine by a group that practices a form of Brazilian martial arts.

A crowd of all ages and nationalities attended the festival, and many either were eating food from the various vendors or standing in line to purchase something to eat.

Nearly moments after the festival began at 1 p.m., lines were forming for food, including Taco Chelly’s, which is a family catering business that specializes in Mexican style tacos.

“We make everything from scratch, including corn to make our tortillas, and we use all fresh ingredients,” said Lisa Berrios, one of the owners of the business, which in two weeks will have a booth at Union Street Farmers Market in downtown Gainesville on Wednesdays.

The festival provides a sense of community for Hispanics in Alachua and surrounding counties and “is a time for us to come together and show what we have,” Berrios said.

Thomas Torres, 69 and a native of Puerto Rico, said he used to have a food booth at the festival until he suffered a stroke three years ago. Though he doesn’t sell food at the festival any more, he said he still looks forward to attending the festival.

“I used to make good money selling food at my booth during the festival,” said Torres as he received a beef fritter from Old San Juan Puerto Rico Cuisine, who had a booth set up on the southeast corner of the plaza. “I enjoy the music, food and the people. This brings everybody together.”

Gerardo Medrano, 65, said he attended the festival for the first time last year, and came back this year to help celebrate Hispanic culture.

“I’m a regular to events held here at the plaza, and this festival gives me a chance to see friends and enjoy great music and food,” said Medrano, a native of Nicaragua, as he sipped on a passion fruit drink from Mi Apa Latin Café in Gainesville.

The first year of the festival attracted the most people ever, approximately 2,500, in 2002 with attendance declining for several years before increasing the past couple of years, Pazmin said. Several hundred people were at the festival around 2 p.m. Saturday, with a couple of thousand more expected to stop by before the festival ended at 8 p.m., Pazmin said.

“We are expecting people from Ocala, Lake City and other nearby counties to attend the festival this year because their counties don’t have one like this,” Pazmin said.