Puerto Rican Festival: Thousands head downtown for festival

This year marks the 53rd Puerto Rican Festival held in Rochester, a city with deep ties to the Caribbean island. So the heritage festival is an opportunity to celebrate Puerto Rican pride and culture and to honor the contributions of Puerto Rican residents in our region.

• Puerto Rican food: A popular new restaurant readies for its Puerto Rican Festival debut

• Puerto Rican music: See who's playing at the festival today

Take a look at photos, stories and galleries from the Democrat and Chronicle's coverage.

Puerto Rican Festival: Dominoes tournament brings intensity

Luis Rivera might have had the toughest job at Rochester’s Puerto Rican Festival on Saturday – serving as referee for the festival’s Domino Tournament.

“Dominoes is a very intensive game,” Rivera said as two teams of players slapped tiles on colorfully appointed tables. “I kind of simmer things down.”

A single-elimination tournament featuring matchups of two-player teams was to begin toward mid-afternoon. Players on the same team face each other across the table.

All that intensity draws spectators, Rivera said.

“It will be a lot of fun,” he said. “There will be a big crowd around.”

Al Burgos, owner of Burgos Income Tax, is director of the Domino Tournament. He stood watching two teams of two players during a late-morning game, smiling.

Burgos showed a reporter a painted dominoes table-top featuring imagery of various cultures that have shaped Puerto Rico’s history.

“It’s very popular in Puerto Rico and Latin American countries,” he said of dominoes.

Burgos also spoke of Rivera’s important role as a referee: “He makes sure they’re not sending signals.”

-Michael Kilian

Puerto Rican Festival: At employee’s suggestion, West Herr Auto Group becomes first-time sponsor

Joseph Mora started work recently as a sales consultant for West Herr Auto Group, the region’s largest set of car dealerships.

Of Puerto Rican and Mexican heritage, Mora thought it would be a win for West Herr if it were to sponsor the annual Puerto Rican Festival in Rochester.

“I brought it to the corporate leaders and they loved the idea,” Mora said Saturday while standing next to a bright yellow Ford Bronco Sport vehicle.

West Herr Auto Group leaders saw the company’s presence at the festival as an opportunity to serve the community and to spread awareness of its brands and services. Already, some 20 appointments had been scheduled with festivalgoers who had stopped by the West Herr booth, Mora said.

Jose Gonzalez, a West Herr sales consultant who was born in Puerto Rico, said he appreciated seeing Puerto Rican culture be so valued in Rochester.

“It’s beautiful,” Gonzalez said. “We’re embraced. Our culture is so loving, so giving. It’s all about love.”

-Michael Kilian

PR Festival costumes: Celebrating a beloved and endangered bird

The endangered Iguaca, also known as the Puerto Rican Amazon, is a beloved symbol of the tropical island. The bird and its bright emerald and sky blue feathers are the inspiration for 12-year-old Ginierys Birriel's handmade costume.

She chose the parrot for her elaborate costume, crafted by her maternal grandfather and cousin, includes an image of the parrot perch on a branch in the flora and fauna of Puerto Rico. It took the family, which hails from Arecibo, about five or six months to create the costume, and it was shipped by boat from Puerto Rico just for Ginierys to wear at the Rochester celebration.

-Maryanne Batlle

Puerto Rican Festival: Mayor Malik Evans shares message of peace

Puerto Ricans Festival helped remove feeling of isolation in Rochester  

Roberto Burgos was 3 years old when his family moved to Rochester from Puerto Rico in 1954.

His father, Jose, had a job waiting for him at a bakery, and there was a small network of people to offer help. Still, things were tough.

“We were living with people who didn’t understand our language, our culture,” Burgos said in a 2019 Democrat and Chronicle story by Alan Morrell.

As Puerto Ricans, they were American citizens. Yet they felt like strangers in a strange land.

It was the Puerto Rican Festival, launched in Rochester in 1970, that helped to wipe away feelings of seclusion and isolation among those who came here to live a better life.

Puerto Rican Festival music for Saturday: Here are the headliners 

Luis Figueroa and Los Hermanos Rosario will close out the last day of the Rochester Puerto Rican Festival.

Figueroa is a two-time Latin GRAMMY nominated singer and songwriter who is a rising star in the salsa genre.

Los Hermanos Rosario is a legendary Dominican merengue band that has been making music since the late 1970s.

Local acts set for today include Borinquen Dance Theatre,  Bachata Rebelde and Los Infieles.

-Genae Shields

Puerto Rican Festival: How much does it cost, where to park 

The Puerto Rican Festival takes place in the VIP Lot at Innovation Field, One Morrie Silver Way. There will be food, live performances, vendors and more from noon until 11 p.m.

Admission is free from noon to 2 p.m., after that general admission is $15, $5 for seniors and kids 6-12 and free for children 5 and younger.

Parking is free all day.

Festivalgoers can bring chairs, blankets and umbrellas but food and drinks are not permitted.

-Bill Wolcott

Puerto Rican parade canceled  

The Puerto Rican Parade that was set to march down North Clinton Avenue on Saturday is canceled due to safety concerns, the organization that runs the festivities announced just hours before it was expected to start.

Threats of violence from a local gang prompted the decision to halt the parade, said Katelyn Plonczynski-Cruz, a spokeswoman for the Puerto Rican Pride Parade of Rochester.

““I don’t want to cancel and have them sense that they have this type of power, but I don’t want to risk everyone’s lives today,” Plonczynski-Cruz said.

She said it’s taken about a decade of negotiation with the city to return the festival route to Clinton Avenue for the first time since 1972.

“This has taken a lot of blood sweat and tears,” Plonczynski-Cruz said. “We were really hoping this wouldn’t happen.

-Maryanne Batlle

Puerto Rican Festival weather: Expect a picture-perfect day

Mother Nature must love the Puerto Rican Festival because she saved her best weather for this weekend.

The showers and thunderstorms of the last few days are gone, and delightful August weather is here for the weekend, according to the National Weather Service office in Buffalo.

Expect sunny skies, dry weather and a high in the upper 70s today. Sunday will be warmer with the high in the low to mid-80s.

— Bill Wolcott 

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Puerto Rican Festival Rochester NY 2023 updates