COLUMBIA, S.C. — It’s about that time of year! The Main Street Latin Festival will be taking over downtown Columbia on Saturday.
Dozens of vendors, performers and community members will be celebrating Latino culture.
“It’s a wonderful way for the Hispanic community to come together and share in their culture and their pride and and have a good time,” Genny Padilla said.
Padilla, the marketing director of the Main Street Latin Festival, said this festival came to Columbia 21 years ago with a purpose.
“There was a need there, there was an opening. There wasn't anything that really celebrated or really educated people on the diversity of Latin America, and so we decided that this festival would be a good mechanism and a good way to share that and educate people on that,” she said.
The festival will run from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Community members will be able to enjoy different Latin foods, music, dancing and performances.
"What it means to the community, the Hispanic community of Columbia and around South Carolina, is that people get to have a piece of home. They kind of get to walk around and feel seen, and get to share a little bit of their cultural pride," Padilla said.
Community members say this event is a great way to meet and learn about the Hispanic community in Columbia.
“For us, it's very important because it lets people know that we're here,” Brendaliz Crespo-Gonzalez said.
Brendaliz Crespo-Gonzalez is the co-owner of La Isla Bonita. Not only has she attended the festival in the past years, but she has also helped bring Puerto Rican culture to it.
“They actually get to taste homemade cooking, because that's what we make people feel like. You come in as strangers and you leave as family,” she said.
Crespo-Gonzalez says her family and the restaurant will be in attendance on Saturday, and they will be serving different traditional Puerto Rican foods.
“A lot of people that actually come, like from Fort Jackson, they're like, oh, where are all the Hispanics, so nobody really sees everybody until it's the main street festival, and then all of sudden, you see, the street is filled with people that you just never knew that they were here, they were in the hiding, coming to enjoy, just a big ole party,” she said.
The Latin Festival is free and will be held on Main Street between Hampton and Lady Street.