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Puerto Rican Festival Charts Its Return To The Green

Lucy Gellman | August 11th, 2022

Puerto Rican Festival Charts Its Return To The Green

Culture & Community  |  Downtown  |  Festival Puertorriqueño  |  Puerto Rico  |  Arts & Culture  |  New Haven Green

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“We came together because of you all,” said Joe Rodriguez, the president of PRU. Lucy Gellman Photos.

Oh!, oh!, oh!, esta es la linda! The words floated over the New Haven Green, and spilled out onto Church Street. Tierra que busco yo! They wove through midday traffic, soared past commuters, and pressed up against the windows of City Hall. As Gabriella Xavier lifted the mic to her mouth for a triumphant finish, the Puerto Rican Flag flapped high above her head. 

Amidst song, applause, and cries of “Yo Soy Boricua/Pa'que tu lo sepas!” members of Puerto Ricans United, Inc. (PRU) celebrated the return of the city's Puerto Rican Festival to the New Haven Green Thursday afternoon, as they raised the Puerto Rican flag over the heart of the city. Saturday, the celebration will unfold on the Green for the first time since 2019. 

This year, the festival’s theme is “la Mujer Puertorriqueña,” or the Puerto Rican woman. It follows PRU'S community-oriented gala at Amarante’s Sea Cliff at the end of July. 

“We came together because of you all,” said Joe Rodriguez, the president of PRU, in a lineup of speakers that included artists, educators, and local, state, and federal officials. “The Puero Rican community demanded that we wanted to see more from our leaders as it pertains to our culture. So we came together and we organized this board so we could promote and preserve our culture. Nuestra cultura.”

This year, the all-volunteer organization has organized a seven-hour celebration of Puerto Rican culture, music, and cuisine that captures the breadth of a diaspora. From early Saturday afternoon onward, the Green will come alive to a constant heartbeat of Bomba y Plena, salsa, merengue, bachata, and the well-known Reggaeton artist Yomo, as well as musicians Moncho Rivera, Celso Clemente, Tony Hernández, Michelle Brava and several others. 

Around the Green, 20 vendors plan to sell food and other goods (past festivals have included everything from sweet, ice cold piragua to fans and pint-sized Puerto Rican flags) amidst family-friendly activities, including at least one puppet station. For the first time ever in PRU’s history, the festival will also include a career fair. PRU member Tiana Ocasio, who helped organize the career fair, said that employers plan to be on the Green for several hours.

It marks a kind of milestone, said several members of PRU throughout the 30-minute press conference and flag raising Thursday. Two years ago, the festival screeched to a halt as Covid-19 rocked the city. Then last year, PRU held a parade and scaled-down event in Criscuolo Park. But the Green has always been the group’s home. This year, declared PRU board member and emcee Edward Melendez, “it’s good to be back!”

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New Haven Health Director Maritza Bond and Aliyah Rodriguez. Lucy Gellman Photos.

Rodriguez said that the decision to move back to the Green came only after the New Haven Health Department’s blessing. Thursday, Director Maritza Bond—a proud Puerto Rican herself, and the first Latina in the state to hold her position—cheered it on. 

“Where my Boricuas at?!” she said, taking the podium. “We are all Puerto Rican on Saturday!”

As speakers heralded the festival’s return, many reflected on the role Puerto Rican culture has played in their own lives, and in the development of a vibrant New Haven. Mayor Justin Elicker praised the influence of Puerto Rican culture on the city, going so far as to say “in so many ways in New Haven, we're all Puero Rican.”

Rodriguez, who grew up in New Haven and is now raising his family in Fair Haven, remembered the annual Puerto Rican Day parade and FLECHAS festival that for years took place in the Long Wharf section of the city. 

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State Rep. Juan Candelaria.

State Rep. Juan Candelaria, a member of PRU who was just a kid when his family arrived from Puerto Rico 1979, looked to the resilience that he sees each day from members of the Puerto Rican community in New Haven and in Connecticut. 

“Cómo está mi gente!?” he said, greeting people in English and Spanish before dipping into  Florencio Morales Ramos’ “Que Bonita Bandera.” He told attendees that he is proud not just to be a New Havener, but also to be Puerto Rican.

“We have contributed to this country, to this nation, to the world in many aspects, so as Puerto Ricans we feel very proud,” he said. Halfway across the Green, someone on a bench yelled “Wepa!” in response. “You can walk through the city of New Haven, and you can identify where Puerto Ricans live, because we’re proud. We’re proud because we have contributed so much to this community, and we continue to do so.” 

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State Sen. and Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney: “This is something that I think we need to recognize every single year."

State Sen. and Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney took attendees back to the 1970s, when New Haven’s Puerto Rican community was just starting to take root. At the time, his father was still working for the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, and saw the growth of the city’s Puerto Rican community firsthand. 

Looney shouted out just a few of the leaders—Gumersindo Del Rio, who people affectionately called Gumpy, Carlos Rodriguez, and Herman and Dolly Garcia—who helped grow that community into what it is today. Over five decades later, he is proud to see how many Puerto Ricans live in the state—and proudly display their culture and heritage. 

“This is something that I think we need to recognize every single year,” he said. “It’s so good that we’re able to be together again after the problems with the pandemic, which of course are still with us, but at least we can have this outdoor ceremony to celebrate and nurture this superb culture that has contributed so much to the life of the city of New Haven and continues to do so.”PRUFlagRaising - 1

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Top: Tiana Ocasio and Juancarlos Soto, both members of PRU. Bottom: Xavier (in white) before performing the “Star-Spangled Banner” and “La Borinquena.” Lucy Gellman Photo.

Those words echoed across the Green as Xavier took the mic to sing both the “Star-Spangled Banner” and “La Borinquena.” A Wilbur Cross High School grad who is headed to the University of Connecticut in the fall, she described herself as “so proud” when she sings the Puerto Rican national anthem. While she is Colombian and Portuguese by birth, her stepfather is Puerto Rican. Because he raised her “basically as his own,” she grew up around the culture and customs. 

“I just feel proud to be here,” she said. As she sang, the blue, red and white of the Puerto Rican flag flapped proudly against the blue of the New Haven sky. Every so often, a few wispy clouds passed by. “I think this is something that should 100 percent be celebrated.” 

The Puerto Rican Festival of New Haven takes place Saturday August 13 from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the New Haven Green. Learn more about the festival here