LIVERPOOL, N.Y. — The Puerto Rican Festival brought people together to celebrate Puerto Rican heritage through music, food and community.
The festival also welcomed people from across the region to experience Puerto Rican culture, regardless of their background.
The event director, Jesus Rolon said “It’s like building a space for the Latino community.”
Rolon noted the festival is about more than celebrating for one weekend. Each year, the event crowns a new Puerto Rican Festival Queen, a title that also comes with a scholarship.
Reinalys Ramos Colon, the 2026 Puerto Rican Festival Queen, said the scholarship will help her work toward becoming a nurse.
“I feel really good about the scholarship because that means I get a better chance at achieving my future goals,” Ramos Colon said.
The scholarship is part of the festival’s effort to support young people and encourage the next generation to stay connected to their culture and community.
The festival queen also takes on a role in giving back to the community through volunteer work and projects throughout the year.
For attendees, the festival offered an opportunity to experience Puerto Rican culture while connecting with people from different backgrounds.
“It’s a lot of natives here, a lot of Latinos here, a lot of culture is here,” said Benjamin Sanabria. “This is a diverse city.”
The Puerto Rican Festival was one of several cultural celebrations taking place around Syracuse this weekend.
Other events included Egyptian Fest and Ukrainian Fest, giving residents and visitors opportunities to experience different traditions, food and music from communities across the region.
Together, the festivals highlighted the range of cultures represented throughout Central New York and gave people a chance to celebrate their own heritage while learning about others.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source cnycentral.com ’
