Annual Hispanic festival in Pembroke Pines expands
Annual Hispanic festival in Pembroke Pines expands
An annual Hispanic festival in Pembroke Pines has doubled the amount of time it runs and moved to a bigger venue.
Fiestas Patronales, which began Thursday and runs through Nov. 21, is being staged at City Center, 10400 Pines Blvd. The festival had previously been staged farther east, at the Pines Recreation Center. For organizer Frank Nieves, the new venue gives him the opportunity to realize the dream of running a festival for 10 days.
“I could never find a venue that would do that,” he said.
Nieves also serves as president of the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Broward County. Fiestas Patronales started out as a Puerto Rican event, but Nieves said that over the years, it received support from South Florida’s Colombian and Dominican communities. With more days, the festival also is increasing the range of Latin cultures it covers, with themed days for specific countries.
The Nov. 14 events focus on Colombia. Miller Martinez, who has organized events for Colombian Independence Day, said the day would showcase Colombian music, arts and crafts and food. The concert stage will feature performances from nine artists, and vendors will be serving up a variety of food, including carne asada, arepas, yuca and tostones.
“Whoever goes, they’re gonna have fun,” Martinez said.
The festival also features a carnival section with rides for children and adults. In past years, space issues have meant that the two portions of the festival had to be separated, but Nieves said the amount of empty space at City Center allows everything to run continuously. Wednesday’s events aren’t focused on a particular country, but the government-themed night will allow all government employees free entry with identification.
As next weekend approaches, Friday’s events will focus on the Dominican Republic and several merengue performers. Puerto Rico will be in the spotlight on Nov. 20, with an attempt to break a record for the most number of people dancing salsa simultaneously. Nieves said this event was possible this year thanks to the paved plaza in the vacant City Center lot. Nieves said he’s expecting at least 500 people to attend the salsa dance, and more than 300 have already registered online.
Tickets and operating hours vary by day. For more information, visit http://www.prfiestas.com.
Chris Guanche can be reached at cguanche@tribune.com.
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