Puerto Rican Parade and Festival De Coqui
Main Street, Hartford
Oct. 8, 2023
What does it take to make a community?
Shared culture is a start. A common language. Customs and traditions. Connection to a physical place. Myth and legends and histories. Family bonds. Friendship.
All of that was on abundant display at Sunday’s Puerto Rican Parade.
The parade was originally scheduled for Sept. 10, but the date was moved to Oct. 8 out of respect for the Hartford Police after the tragic death of Officer Bobby Garten. The early October chill and blustery winds didn’t dampen the celebratory mood of the event.
Connecticut has one of the largest Puerto Rican populations in the United States, and at 8.5 percent of the overall population, Connecticut has the highest percentage of Puerto Ricans of any state. Nearly a third of the 300,000 Puerto Ricans who call Connecticut home live in Greater Hartford.
But a group of people, even a large group, is not necessarily a community. Community is what unites Puerto Ricans across the county. So when the parade starts, it doesn’t just shut down a few streets. The entire city is abuzz with celebrations for the island and its people.
I saw it firsthand when I stepped outside of my house. The owners of the bodega next door were already setting up their tent and grill on the sidewalk. They couldn’t go to the parade due to work, but the parade was coming to them as people began to gather out front.
As I walked past Park Street, one of Hartford’s major roads and the center of the Puerto Rican diaspora in the city, I could see dozens of Puerto Rican flags waving from cars, from the street lights and from the hands of young and old alike. Cars crept up the road, driving slowly enough to give us pedestrians a chance to party with them. Their horns and sirens mixed with the melodic sounds of reggaeton, bachata, merengue and salsa music that poured out of shiny jeeps with oversized rims and top-of-the-line sound systems.
And that was just getting to the parade.
I arrived just as the parade itself was kicking off. There were floats and organizations of all shapes and sizes represented in the parade. My favorite was watching the young people beam with pride as they marched, danced, sang and otherwise performed for the onlookers.
My own son is part Puerto Rican, and about the same age as the young people I saw in the parade. It was fun to look around at the crowds every time the kids started performing, to spot the proud parents recording and shouting praises at them.
That was when I saw it: A gust of wind rushed through the corridor of skyscrapers. A woman’s hat blew off her head. Everyone grabbed for their coats. A vendor had his cotton candy blown off of his stand. The bags of feathery sugar rolled down the street like multicolored tumbleweeds. Most were gathered up quickly by the crowd and returned to the vendor.
But one bag kept rolling, spotted by no one except a child. She couldn’t have been more than 2 years old.
She snatched the bag off the ground, then smiled at her quick thinking. She turned, and her father saw the cotton candy in her hands. He immediately pointed to the vendor and spoke to the child. She walked over and returned the prize.
That’s what makes a community. The transmission of values and empathy for others from one generation to the next. Why did those adults return the cotton candy without a second thought? Because they’d been taught to do so, just as the father was teaching his daughter that day. The love and care exuded in that simple act is what undergirds the culture, the language, the legends- everything else.
Afterwards I followed the crowds to the Festival Del Coqui, a celebration of food and music held in Bushnell Park. Food trucks lined Trinity Street offering mouth-watering and authentic Puerto Rican food, from plantains (a personal favorite) to arroz con gandules, pernil, mofongo and everything in between. The crowds gathered around the pavilion, and before long everyone was dancing and singing along to the performances from the stage.
The Puerto Rican Parade isn’t just about celebrating the history of Puerto Rico. It’s a time to appreciate all of the contributions that Puerto Ricans and their descendants have made to our city and state. I’m already looking forward to celebrating again next year.
NEXT
Jamil gets ready for election season with a gallery of political cartoons.
