Puerto Ricans celebrate culture, music, and heritage during their first post-COVID parade

Lydia Rodríguez has been living in Central Florida for the past 40 years and has seen the Puerto Rican parade on television. This year, she said, she wanted to be closer to her Boricua heritage and headed to downtown to see it live.

“I wanted to see my people. I wanted to come down [before] but couldn’t make it. I told my husband ‘Maybe we can go this year’,” she said excitedly. “I like seeing all the floats,” said Rodríguez, who was born in Puerto Rico, grew up in Connecticut, but now makes Central Florida her home.

Her husband, Tom King, which she described as “a gringo” a term used by Puerto Ricans to refer to people born in the United States, said he has been around the culture enough to enjoy it. “I like the music and I like the food,” he said before Rodríguez added that “he knows how to dance merengue, too.”

Through the years, Rodríguez says she has witnessed how the Puerto Rican community has grown in the area, something that the student population with the UCF Puerto Rico Association group, who participated within the floats, also pointed out.

Shouting “En Florida, sí señor, ya pasamos un millón”, which translates to “In Florida yes sir, we surpassed the million,” they walked down Orange Avenue emphasizing the population growth the Puerto Rican community has had in the area, especially after Hurricane Maria.

“On Monday, we commemorate the 4-year mark of Hurricane Maria and seeing how far we’ve come, how big our community has become and everything we are accomplishing is just super exciting. Being able to participate in this event, now with the UCF students, is just emotional overall,” Fernando Rivera, director of the Puerto Rico Research Hub said while walking down the parade.

The event celebrated Puerto Ricans and specifically the municipalities of Moca and Cabo Rojo and was dedicated to first responders that also have been dealing with coronavirus pandemic. After a hiatus last year, the Florida Puerto Rican Parade had its after-COVID comeback Saturday.

The parade began almost at noon and served all audiences, from local political figures such as Maribel Gómez Cordero, Daisy Morales, representatives Darren Soto, Val Demings, Orange County Government and the City of Kissimmee and Alianza for Progress amongst others.

Soto said “this is when we display the pride of the huge Florida diaspora we have here on Central Florida. We have been through a couple tough years with Hurricane María and then with pandemic which has hit the Hispanic community hard, including the Puerto Rican community, so to have a moment to express our pride and enjoy the music and food and all the dance and all the arts our community is known for, this is a triumph to be able to be here today,” Soto said.

For Demings it was an honor to be able to walk with the parade and she assured “I don’t take it for granted. This is what community feels like and looks like and it’s a great day.” “We have gone through a lot, specially over the last year and a half, but somehow as a community we always find a way to celebrate our heritage,” Demings said. The congresswoman added that “I am working on Puerto Rico becoming a state, working on statehood I support that. We are talking about U.S. citizens and that should have all the rights and privileges.”

Luis Martínez, member of the Florida Puerto Rican Parade committee admitted it was challenging getting this event together because “many people were worried because we are in the middle of a pandemic, but we have taken the health measures necessary to hold an event that is the parade and festival that both are outdoors,” he explained. “It’s an event that everyone waits for in our community. It is the fifth year we celebrate it in downtown Orlando celebrating Puerto Rican heritage.”

Osecola County Sheriff Marco López said he was excited to participate from the parade as an official honoree as Godfather this year. “I’m of Puerto Rican descent, my mom is from Utuado and my dad is from Gurabo, so representing people in Central Florida is an honor.”

Although he is not Latino, Orange County Sheriff, John Mina, walked down waving a Puerto Rican flag and admitted that participating of events within the Puerto Rican community “feels good to be back. I was just telling several people that I missed this last year. It is one of the greatest events we have here in Orlando. We have such a big Puerto Rican population, so it is great that everyone has a chance to be here.”

“I love being here with my community, being able to share this with other community leaders who are also Puerto Rican but also with other peers such as Sheriff Mina who is not Puerto Rican, but celebrates us, is empowering,” Orlando police Chief Orlando Rolón. “I enjoy so much walking down Orange Ave peacefully celebrating our heritage, our flag, our past and our future. Being Puerto Rican has some sense of pride that many don’t understand, but when we are here together, even if you don’t get it, you feel it.”