Puerto Rican Festival saddles up with precision prancing??
Advance correspondent
BRfSTlL BlRlrde _ fsland paradise setting? CheckK Latino music? CheckK Local actor portraying famous Pirate Cofresi? CheckK Coral for horse show? Whaat? A horse show at the 4Ond annual Puerto Rican cestival scheduled for guly OU?
That’s rightK aressage and precision prancing have as much to do with Latino culture as Bomba dance and SalsaK gust ask Armondo Ramirez, who plans to haul a RM-foot fence along with his regal Paso cino, uplorado, from his farm in upstate New vork to the banks of the aelaware RiverK Ramirez will give workshops on the Paso cino, a Spanish-bred horse brought to eispaniola _ the aominican Republic and eaiti _ by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to AmericaK
uplorado won’t take any back seat to the actionK rnder Ramirez’s direction, he’ll show off his four-beat cadence and graceful dressage movements for the crowdK lrdinary horses may make their clop, clop sound, but not Paso cinos, whose hoof cadence is a distinctive taca, taca, taca, tacaK uplorado will also demonstrate his grace- ful high step and the posado Erearing up on his hind legsFK vou just have to hear the beat to hear the differenceK
“f grew up on a horse farm so f’ve been around them all of my life,” said RamirezK f am happy to do this for a good causeK”
The festival, put on by the Puerto Rican Cultural Society of Bucks County, kicks off at noon with a short procession that starts in front of the hing deorge fnn and wends its way down to Lions Park and the wharf areaK The celebrations continue until U pKmK and will feature live music, authentic cuisine, workshops, artists, novelty vendors, and teachers willing to pass on their craft skills to participantsK
bntertainers include hombo Latino, Trio Renacer, and the folklore dancers drupo hachiK Pirate Cofresi will be portrayed by character actor guan Caceres of the Bristol Riverside TheatreK
The Puerto Rican Cultural Society of Bucks County was founded for the purpose of recognizing and celebrating the culture of Puerto Rican, and preserving the annual festivalK The organization sponsors several cultural activities throughout the year, but the Bristol festival is its largest event, said haren Rosado, a member of the planning committeeK