Bachata, salsa stars to perform during Festival Latino
The largest Ohio event of its kind, Festival Latino will return during the summer to spice things up along the Downtown riverfront.
Set for Aug. 8-9 at Bicentennial Park, 233 Civic Center Dr., the festival will take place across the Scioto River from its former perch in Genoa Park, an area under construction.
Singer-guitarist Luis Vargas, one of the most popular Dominican Republic musicians in the Latino genre of bachata; and prominent Venezuelan singer Oscar D’Leon (aka “Salsa’s Lion”) will headline the weekend event.
Also planned, as always, is a cross-cultural spread of food and drink, with vendor fare ranging from grilled meats and fresh-squeezed juices to sweet desserts.
The family-friendly outing will again provide a children’s area, with activities including live-animal demonstrations by Metro Parks staff members, a “science spot” hosted by COSI Columbus and a “creation station” for young visitors to make art.
But, of course, Festival Latino wouldn’t be a proper party without its music.
Here’s more about the performers scheduled for the free festival:
• Aug. 8: Vargas, one of the first musicians to apply the electric guitar to bachata, a romantic style of music sometimes referred to as the Latino blues; and Dominican merengue-style trumpeter Jose Pena Suazo y La Banda Gorda, whose Caribbean-flavored albums include Libre al Fin and Candela Pura.
• Aug. 9: D’Leon, a performer of salsa and Caribbean music for more than 30 years (with a staggering 50 albums); and the impeccably dressed Banda Machos, whose 25-year career has melded brass-heavy banda stylings and cumbia beats to create the danceable hybrid quebradita.
Ohio-based Latino bands and dance companies will also be featured, with details to be announced later.
Launched by Columbus officials in 1996, the festival has seen a steady surge in attendance since 2009 — when, in a response to city budget cuts that threatened to shutter the event, the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts took over the festival reins.
With CAPA still managing it, the gathering last year attracted 150,000 people (it used to draw about 20,000, CAPA spokeswoman Rolanda Copley said).
Festival Latino has also thrived, she said, by making admission free and focusing on daytime crowds by shortening evening hours.
For more information, visit www.festivallatino.net
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