Happy International Women’s Day. I did know this “holiday” existed, but only because I am in charge of assembling all of the “holidays” for the calendar we put together every year at my job. Ironically enough, the United States does not celebrate or really acknowledge this day like it would Administrative Professionals Day (you know when that day is, go to any major supermarket chain on the day and you will see flowers, cards and balloons at all the registers).

 
But International Women’s Day is celebrated in other countries. We mark its 100th anniversary today, March 8. It was discrimination against women that brought over one million women and men from the socialist movement onto the streets for rallies in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on what was originally called International Working Women’s Day on March 19, 1911.

 
The day became popular in Eastern Europe, Russia and the former Soviet bloc, and eventually spread around the globe. In some regions, it lost its political flavor and became an occasion for men to express their love for women with candy and flowers while in other regions, women’s struggle for human rights and political and social equality remained the focus.

 
In 1975, during International Women’s Year, the United Nations began celebrating March 8 as International Women’s Day. Two years later the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a day for women’s rights and international peace. This year, events are being held in many countries to mark the 100th anniversary. Locally, Rochester AAUW, in collaboration with United Nations Association of Rochester and an area Women and Gender Studies college alliance led by State University College at Brockport and Hobart and William Smith, will host a 100th birthday celebration at AAUW’s Perkins Mansion.

 
I write about this holiday today because this year’s Puerto Rican Festival theme is Celebrating the Latina Woman. How fitting that as the International Woman’s Day celebrates its 100th anniversary, the board wishes to acknowledge the pioneering Latina women of the past, the present and future. I am proud to be a Latina woman. Happy International Women’s Day!!!!

 
The opinions expressed by the Blogger(s) on the Puerto Rican Festival, Inc. (PRFI) site and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of the PRFI. The PRFI is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Blogger(s). The PRFI will not be held liable for the contents of this information, or that of any external web links, nor does it necessarily endorse the contents of the sites.

The Puerto Rican Festival Board is proud to present, in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, una Noche de Comedia ~ a Night of Comedy on Friday, October 15, 2010.   Doors open at 8:00 pm at the Montage Music Hall, 50 Chestnut Street.

Come on out and laugh your butt off.  These comedians are not only Puerto Rican.. they are funny.  We guarantee you are going to have a great time.  Tickets are only $10 in advance.  Don’t wait until the last minute to get your ticket.  Please see below for ticket purchasing infromation.

Also a special thanks to our many sponsors: Henry’s Check Cashing, Burgos Income Tax, CNY Latino, You Adore Photography, Vincent Realtors, Golden Tans, and The Rochester Plaza Hotel.

Noche de Comedia / Night of Comedy

Featuring:

- Rochester’s own Tizo Maduro

- From NYC, Edgar Rivera

- and The Latin Diva of Comedy, Sara Contreras

Date:

October 15, 2010

Time:

Doors open at 8pm – Laughs go until 11pm

Location:

The Montage Music Hall
50 Chestnut Street, Rochester, NY

Cost:

$10 advance / $15 door / $20 VIP

Limited seats available so get your tickets fast

Dress code:

Business Casual

Age:

21 and over

Payment Options:

1. Visit our website www.prfestival.com for paypal payment options

2. Mail payment payable to: Puerto Rican Festival – 130 North Winton Rd PO Box 10098 Rochester, NY 14610

3. Email president@prfestival.com to make other arrangements

Music brought to you by DJ Julio

Come and enjoy this evening as we conclude Hispanic Heritage Month with some laughs.

For more information please go to www.prfestival.com or email president@prfestival.com.

The Puerto Rican Festival, Inc. (PRFI) has recently immersed its hand in the event planning arena.  By this I mean we are starting to broaden our scope, still maintaining our brand and cultural integrity.  Earlier this year, the PRFI hosted its first Parranda called “Trulla Navideña”.  For those people reading my blog that are not familiar with a parranda, it has been described by some as Puerto Rican caroling.  FUN!!!  The event, which included Pedro Nuñez y su Conjunto band, was held last January at the Flat Iron Café and it was very successful.  So successful we are looking for a larger venue for this year’s event.  In addition, we conducted a similar event at the newly built Ryan Center at school #33.  The event targeted kids and educated them on the traditions, music, and instruments used during parrandas.  The turnout was great and we had kids of all ages and ethnic backgrounds participate.

In addition, we held our very fist wine tasting event at the Strathallan Hotel back in June.  We paired different wines with Puerto Rican Cuisine and let me tell you folks, we sold out.  We had limited availability (100 was the max we were allowed).  We sold 100 tickets in 2 days.  The event was extremely successful and we had a great time and learned a lot about what wines to pair with empanadas, carne frita and flan.  Prior to the event, the networking hour offered the opportunity to begin tasting other wines available.

In conjunction with Executive Jibaritos we hosted a networking function at Tapas in July.  We encouraged men to wear guayaberas and women to wear flowers in their hair.  What a great way to network with our Latino professionals.  We awarded weekend passes to the festival for the top 3 men with guayaberas and 3 females with the best flower.

It is our intention to develop unique and fun cultural events to share with our community.  We have some ideas brewing that well for now I will keep to myself.  But we want to hear what you have to say.  Is there something you would like to see?  Something fun and unique and not seen in Rochester?  We are open to suggestions and welcome them anytime.

And stay tuned people; we have some fun stuff coming up soon…

So this morning the President of the Puerto Rican Festival Board forwarded the following letter from the band manager of Plena Libre:

Saludos. No quise esperar mas tiempo para agardecerles la oportunidad de compartir con todos ustedes en Rochester. La experiencia fue espectacular. Tu, Javier, Ida, los muchachos de la transportacion, el hotel, todo… todo nos hizo sentir bienvenidos y queridos.

Aprovecho para decirte que la organizacion y profesionalismo del evento es de Grandes Ligas, de verdad que estabamos impresionados con el montaje y toda la coordinacion del evento. Sabemos que no es facil y se nota el cariño y dedicacion que ponen en el Festival.

Esperamos poder verlos nuevamente y tener la oportunidad de regresar en un futuro no muy lejano, mientras tanto un abrazo y nuestro mas sincero agradecimiento.

Valerie y Plena Libre

[translation:

Greetings. I did not want to wait to thank you for the opportunity we had to share with all you in Rochester. The experience was spectacular. You, Javier, Ida, the transportation guys, the hotel, everything… all made us feel welcomed and cared for.

I will take this opportunity to tell you that the organization and professionalism of the event is of exceptional, we were very impressed with the assembly and all the coordination of the event. We know that it is not easy and we all noticed the affection and dedication that you all put into the Festival.

We hope to be able to see you all  again and to have the opportunity to return in the not very distant future, meanwhile a hug and our most sincere thank you. ]

I have to say that everyone on the board does care tremendously about the festival.  We all volunteer countless hours, spent an entire 4 days away from our families, and to clear any misconceptions, none of us get PAID!  We do it because we love it.  We do it because we want to continue the traditions of the past. We do it because we want to give back.  We do it because we are Proud to be Puerto Rican!

A thank you like this makes it all worth it! And we want the community to know that as an organization we will strive to not only bring the festival forward but to also contribute to the community by promoting other cultural events that celebrate us!  Boricuas!

A week ago today I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. The 9 board members were all busy at work some on site on Thursday morning at 7:00 am to help get the tents set up. This was my first “working” festival. By that I mean it was the first time I would be working behind the scenes as an organizer. What I didn’t know then is all the hard work that goes into planning and executing a 3 day event. So many little details that a person attending this festival fails to realize are in place. So many meetings held before hand to make sure the execution is flawless. I can honestly say that I believe we met our goals. These 9 hardworking souls literally breathed and lived the festival; many if not all working 17 hour days. And to them I want to say Congratulations… Your hard work is not unnoticed.

The performers were all great. Victor Manuelle was awesome; Rey Ruiz was also “fenomenal”. Plena Libre brought the house down and although I was not able to see them perform I did see pictures of one of our very own dancing on stage and one of our masters of ceremony singing with them. My favorite performers however, were Johnny O and Cynthia. Wow, they both gave an awesome show and just as I had previously written I went back to that time in my life when it was simple. I was not the only one however who remember every single lyric, I saw many people my age singing along. It was awesome!

The amateur performances were also fantastic. I saw a diverse age group of people performing for the crowd and I think our festival attendees truly enjoyed the performances. So much talent in Rochester, I am glad the Puerto Rican Festival was able to showcase some of it.

Now, let’s talk food. We had your Puerto Rican selections, but how awesome was it to see arepas with cheese. Arepas is a bread made of corn popular in Venezuela and Colombia. If you have never had these they are delicious. There were also several vendors with tropical smoothies and Italian ices. McDonalds was even on hand giving samples of their strawberry lemonade which to my surprise were also very good.

Overall I loved everything about the festival. Even though I literally would get home in pain (my poor feet) I knew that everyone around me was also enjoying themselves and I really believe that is what propelled me through the weekend. On Sunday when it was all over I was a little sad but happy to be finally heading home.

At around 12:00 am as I headed down Bay Street (after debriefing and cleaning up with board members after the festival) I saw the most disturbing thing. 5 police cars parked on Bay near First Street and several police officers in riot gear. Then I saw a line of cars with flags and several people on street corners (more than the regular few who are on these street corners). My first thought was panic. My second thought was anger. These young people in the streets weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary that I could see but the fact that they were congregated in groups gave the impression that they might have been up to something. My last thought was sadness because as hard as the board worked to educate and promote our message of Celebrating with Pride/Celebra con Orgullo, it was obvious that the message had not reached these young people.

So Monday arrives and as we head to the press conference we find out that 25 were arrested as a result of what the media calls “after festival activities.” Orlando our board president is happy to report that we had record attendance for our 3 day festival and that there were 0 arrests on site! Do you know how rare that is? That in a mass of 8,000 – 10,000 people on Sunday (or any day for that matter) not one person was arrested on the festival grounds??? That is a phenomenal feat. But the sad part about it is that it doesn’t get recognized as such. Instead the reporters asked how much money do we pay the police department (which by the way, one of our board members broke it down and it comes down to $0.87 per person) or if the additional funds spent on overtime for police was a wise way to spend tax payer money. I know that something must be done to control these young people and their actions but I am honestly stumped as how to do it. How to curb these activities on the Sunday night is something that I hope we as a community together can find a solution to. We need to have pride in ourselves and still respect others. Hanging out of cars and beeping horns is not an acceptable way to celebrate, and if we continue with these actions, I fear we may lose our precious festival.

I am so excited to be attending the Miss Puerto Rico of Rochester Pageant tomorrow (July 10th at 3:00 pm at the Rochester Museum and Science Center). It will certainly bring back tons of memories of when I participated when I was 16 years old.  I can remember being so nervous and excited at the same time.  I don’t remember many details, after all this did happen 20 years ago, but I do remember going shopping with my mom for a gown to wear for the pageant.  We went to a store in Midtown Plaza which now I can’t even remember the name of.   But I loved that ivory wedding gown!

I also don’t remember many of the girls who participated with me except for the winner.  Yes, I did not win, I actually came in first runner-up or Princess as they call it.  I loved the experience and I will always be glad that I participated.  It is true what they say about certain experiences shaping what your life eventually becomes.  That certainly did happen for me, I mean I didn’t go off to participate in multitude of pageants, but I do think that it helped give me confidence and the ability to be able to speak in front of large crowds.  Experiences like these are so important.

The young ladies participating in tomorrow’s cultural pageant have worked hard for this moment.  They have practiced and honed their skills.  They have rehearsed their speeches and practiced their talent.  And I know that 20 years from now they will also look back and reflect on this time in their lives.

Ladies, I wish you the best of luck!!! Congratulations on making it this far!!!

About the Miss Puerto Rico of Rochester:  Sponsored by the Puerto Rican Festival, Inc. this Pageant is designed to build cultural awareness, values and self-esteem in the young women who participate.  As a community driven organization, we work to encourage each young lady to be the best that she can be, express her individuality and blossom to her fullest potential. Extreme focus is placed on responsibility, building confidence and developing leadership skills which are all important characteristics for a successful future. As a part of the process, each young lady works for over five months in various workshops, research, rehearsals and community activities.

The Eisenhart Auditorium at the Rochester Museum and Science Center will once again play host to the 2010 Miss Puerto Rico of Rochester Pageant on Saturday, July 10^th, 2010 at 3:00 pm.  Miss Puerto Rico of Rochester Pageant is open to the public.  Tickets are $10.00 and can be purchased at the door.

I hope to see you all there!

This year’s Puerto Rican Festival theme is Generations.  We are extremely proud to be featuring acts that cover an array of musical genres from the different generations.  They include reggaeton (Angel y Khriz), bachata (Carlos y Alejandra), freestyle (Johnny O and Cynthia), salsa (Rey Ruiz and Victor Manuelle) and typical music (Plena Libre).

I am especially looking forward to seeing the freestyle act.  Yes I am a product of the 70′s and remember fondly listening to freestyle in Jr high school and high school.  I have fond memories of  visiting a record store (yes that is what we had) in NYC and bringing home vinyl records that literally consisted of ONE song.  Now their would literally be 4 or more versions of the song on this vinyl record, still you collected them one at a time.  I had a slew of these records of my favorite freestyle artists, Johnny O, Cynthia, Judy Torres, Lil Suzy, Stevie B, Noel, Lisa Lisa, George Lamond,  TKA, well the list is really endless.

I actually stopped listening to freestyle in the early 90′s.  I had now been captured by salsa music and well the fad just wore out.  Still there are people among us (like my boyfriend) who never stopped listening.  He literally owns over  100 freestyle cd’s and managed to compile on my iPod a sampling of some of those artist I cherished so much in the 80′s.    I even  recently discovered there is  a channel online (http://www.freestyle.fm/) where you can still listen to new freestyle music.

So if you are nostalgic to hear some of that great music, I invite you to come on Saturday, July 31st to the Puerto Rican Festival at Frontier Field VIP Lot.  I am sure you will be reliving some great fond memories, and if you bring your kids they will totally look at you like you are nuts (at least my son does when I play some of these old songs on my iPod).

Please visit our new website for more information: http://www.prfestival.com/

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