Caribbean culture celebrated

As the bongo drums, maracas and guitars clamored, and the smell of fried food wafted through the air Saturday afternoon, Cristobal Bonano Jr. reminisced about the years spent in his native Puerto Rico.

He munched on fried plantains and bobbed his head to the music at the 10th annual Puerto Rican and Cuban Festival near downtown Houston, where Caribbean descendants and Latinos gathered by the thousands to celebrate culture and share unity in a city known for its grand immigrant population.

“It’s like transporting back to Puerto Rico for a bit,” said Bonano Jr., 42, a Baytown resident who was 13 when his family moved from Puerto Rico. “In Puerto Rico, there are a lot of vendors in the streets and music. When you see your people here eating and having a good time, you become happy.”

With the downtown skyline as a backdrop, some people clasped hands and shuffled their feet in salsa. Others danced by themselves.

The red, blue and white flags of Puerto Rico and Cuba flapped in the air.

“This festival confirms that Houston is a multicultural city,” said Heriberto Fernandez, an event organizer and Puerto Rican native. “It’s important because there have been a lot of Puerto Ricans and Cubans that have come here for different reasons, so it’s special because it highlights another group and community that calls Houston home.”

Cuba is the greatest source of Caribbean immigrants to the U.S., and the Houston area holds one of the country’s largest Caribbean populations, according to the Washington-based think tank Migration Policy Institute.

In Harris County alone, a place with more than 1 million immigrants, Census estimates from 2014 count about 24,000 Puerto Ricans and 18,000 Cubans. The festival has grown from a couple of thousand attendees in its first year to upward of 20,000 people nowBonano Jr. and his wife planned to hit the dance floor.

Knowing how to salsa, he said, is one of the many qualities that make him Puerto Rican.

“I’m proud of where I’m from,” he said. “This festival is the perfect way to remember home and celebrate our culture.”