Miami, .- The Festival of Calle Ocho in Miami certified this Sunday to be one of the most important Latin festivals as it gathers tens of thousands of people in the Barrio de la Pequeña Habana, in an edition that has the Colombian Fonseca as its ” king”.
The event, which is expected to bring together a million people in the more than 20 streets where the party takes place, hosts a dozen stages that include artists such as Gente de Zona Cubans, the Colombian reggaeton singer Feid, Peruvian Leslie Shaw, the Venezuelan Manu Manzo and her compatriots Mau and Ricky, among many others.
As in recent years, this edition has included a scenario dedicated to Central America, reflecting the increase in immigration from these countries, and through it folklore and traditional groups such as Costa Rica Mia, as well as some from Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador, among other countries in that region.
“You breathe a wide chromatic scale of smells and sounds”, commented Chrysostom Ferreira briefly to Efe at one of the many traditional food stands erected along the iconic Calle Ocho, which for this day was closed to the transit of vehicles on the stretch included between avenues 12 and 27 of southwest Miami.
In the gastronomic section, this edition again celebrated El Croquetazo, where local celebrities and the general public ate the largest number of croquettes in eight minutes, while chefs from Miami and Tampa, as well as other cities, will compete for the best Cuban sandwich.
The festival, the largest among US Hispanics and that since its foundation in 1978 has been organized by Kiwanis Club of Little Havana, this year has the Colombian Fonseca as king and head of musical poster.
“It’s a city that we (Colombians) love very much, I’ve been living here for seven years and it means a lot, both personally and in my career,” the 39-year-old interpreter told Efe last January, when he was appointed by the organization as King of the Calle Ocho Carnival.
Fonseca, who heads the “Gratitud Foundation” to develop cultural projects in Colombia, highlighted “the social work” that Kiwanis Club of Little Havana does to help the most disadvantaged and at risk of exclusion. (EFEUSA)
