‘We’re all people’: Thousands celebrate Latin culture at Calle Ocho Festival
Amid a backdrop of heightened political stakes, thousands of people of all backgrounds braved the rain Sunday to loudly celebrate Latino and Hispanic culture at the Calle Ocho Music Festival in the heart of Little Havana.
“If you really look around, it’s all Hispanics,” said festival goer Lilly Garcia, who is Nicaraguan. “It’s what makes Miami special.”
This year’s Calle Ocho Festival unfolded as local Latino communities grapple with state and federal immigration policies, as Cubans react to recent incidents involving dissidents and the Cuban coast guard, and as Venezuelan exiles watch their country enter a period of uncertainty after the capture of longtime leader Nicolás Maduro.
With those events, festival goers such as Garcia said it was special to celebrate shared Hispanic culture in Miami and come together as a community to eat, drink and have fun.
Some people danced in the rain to Latin music playing across 15 blocks, getting soaking wet. Patrons ducked under available coverage to keep their tacos and arepas dry. Vendors fought to keep the rain off their national jerseys and merchandise.
Dewar Rivera, of Linda Dargham Accessories, is Venezuelan and was selling handmade religious icons at the festival with his wife. He said it felt great to have an opportunity to share their work with Miami and showcase talent from his home country.
The festival is “a time for the community to come together,” said Thomas Falcon, president of the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana.
The Calle Ocho Music Festival was started in 1978 by the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana to celebrate Miami’s Cuban culture, and it has a remained a way to bring people together to this day.
“With everything that’s going on in this world, it’s almost like, come to Calle Ocho and enjoy yourself for two hours and forget about everything else,” Falcon said, adding there wasn’t concern about political statements or protests during the event.
It’s a cherished Miami tradition, showcasing the city’s vibrant Latino culture through music, food and entertainment, said Miami Police Department spokesperson Michael Vega. The festival’s security measures were “similar to last year’s, in which we had a huge success.”
Luis Tabora, 45, who is Honduran, has been coming to the Calle Ocho Music Festival since 1986, he said. It’s an important way to remind one another that “we’re all people,” especially with everything that’s going on in the world. When you get to try a different dish or listen to music from another person’s country, it creates a better understanding of their culture and identity, Tabora said.
“It reminds us that no matter how different we think we are, we have similarities,” he said.
Miami immigration attorney Juan Carlos Gómez told the Miami Herald there is a “smorgasbord of identity and culture” from immigrants in Miami, which is part of what makes the city so great.
“I think that Miami is what Miami is because of immigration, and you had the contribution not just of Cubans, but of many others over time,” Gómez said. “These buildings didn’t just magically build themselves. This community isn’t as culturally rich as it is based on one group alone.”
Gómez said he hopes celebrations such as Calle Ocho or Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl halftime show bring people together positively amid current events.
“It sort of deescalates the tension hopefully, but then, why are so many people participating with ICE?” he said. “Why are the police participating with ICE?”
It’s great to celebrate the culture, but there needs to be support of the culture, too, he said.
Hopefully, the Calle Ocho Music Festival can help to highlight that, he said.
