21st annual Festival Latino returns to New Hanover County following pandemic pause

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The largest Latino event in North Carolina is back following a two-year pandemic pause, and it’s happening this weekend.

The 21st annual Festival Latino will be held at Ogden Park Saturday and Sunday. It’s a multi-cultural celebration with food, crafts, music, and family fun.

Festival founder Lucy Vasquez says she came up with the idea for the event after moving to Wilmington from Los Angeles.

“I come to North Carolina- I mean, this was back in the day, 1990s, barely- and I don’t see my Latino community, but I would find them around and they needed help,” Vasquez said. “I created a festival Latino to bring the communities together so they were know each other.”

Vasquez says the dance lessons are one of the most enjoyable parts of the festival.

“At 2:00 PM we have dance lessons, we have dance performances and the dance competition,” she said. “So even if you are not going to enter the dance competition, you want to come watch the dance competition.”

Vasquez says Saturday is more geared toward kids, while Sunday is more for adults.

“Saturday is the children’s day and we have piñatas every hour, we have the great Mexican hat race,” she said. “There’s a lot of prizes, there’s a lot of fun things for the kids, and you get so much on Saturday. Sunday is for the people that might not have kids, don’t like the big crowds, and they just wanna come and eat and enjoy music, enjoy a show.”

The event is free to attend. You can learn more information here.