Boriken Festival celebrates Puerto Rican heritage at Ocean Beach
Jun. 10—NEW LONDON — Eastern Connecticut's second annual Borikén Festival unfolded Saturday at Ocean Beach Park as a way to keep the Puerto Rican culture alive for the youngest boricuas.
Christina Jenkins of Terryville browsed a tent of souvenirs early in the afternoon, emerging with a T-shirt for the smallest of her six children. The bright red, blue and white tee was emblazoned with the word "boricua," a term for those born in Puerto Rico as well as their descendants.
Jenkins, who is Puerto Rican on her father's side, said she found out about the event on social media. She'd been to festivals in Meriden, Waterbury and Bridgeport but had never before traveled east of the river to celebrate her heritage and share it with her children.
The family came out simply for the experience of "being around Spanish things," she said. She pointed to long lines at three food trucks featuring foods like pernil, pescado frito and Spanish-style barbecue. Behind her, traditional strum of the cuatro and scrape of the güiro reverberated through speakers as Joe Diaz y su Grupo Boriken played onstage.
"They don't really teach Spanish culture in schools," she said. "So unless we teach them, they don't know nothing."
The line of traffic to get into the park stretched about a half mile while gate attendants collected the regular weekend fee of $35 from each carload.
The event was hosted by Borikén United of Eastern Connecticut, a group that emerged from the multicultural, downtown revitalization organization known as Global City Norwich.
Borikén is the name for the Caribbean island used by the indigenous Taino people.
Dalia Santana of Griswold, vice president of the host group, said her parents always made sure to keep the culture alive while she was growing up in Norwich. Now with her own children, ages 5 and 11, she said the importance of upholding those traditions has become even more real to her.
"I've always been super proud to say 'yes, I was born and raised here, but I am Puerto Rican,'" she said.
Borikén United of Eastern Connecticut president Willie Quiñones of New London said the first festival held last year in the streets of downtown Norwich drew more than 2,000 people as part of Global City Norwich. Since then, Borikén United has incorporated as its own entity and is in the process of securing federal nonprofit status.
They made the switch to New London based on the need for more space and Quiñones' familiarity with the park, he said.
Quiñones with his wife runs a for-profit event planning company called Taino. They started it to promote Hispanic and Latino cultures after they held their first Latin music festival at Ocean Beach Park in 2016. The couple cited encouragement from Dave Sugrue, the Ocean Beach Park manager, as a key factor in their early success.
He said the goal of the festival is not only to carry on traditions, but also to share them.
"We do have some resilient people on the island, especially with what they've been through with the hurricanes and the earthquakes," he said. "They show us how to be strong. It's important to pass that on and make our community aware."
Cindy Johnson, of Ledyard, attended the event in a Puerto Rico jersey. Born in Hartford to parents who hailed from the island, she said she likes to support any event that promotes her culture.
She recalled being raised in a close-knit, traditional family with grandparents living upstairs and the younger generations below. It's where she learned to cook recipes like the rice and beans, beef empanadas and fried green plantains known as tostones that she makes for her two grandchildren today.
"I'm Puerto Rican, 100%," she said.
