It鈥檚 been a busy year for Ramona Santelises, organizing a parade and festival 黑料吃瓜网 has not seen before. As a woman from a small Dominican town, she never thought she鈥檇 be organizing something so big.
鈥淚'm telling you, sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I almost want to cry,鈥� Santelises said. 鈥淚 say, but oh my god, this is a reality. I can鈥檛 believe it.鈥�
Santelises is from Sajoma of the Cibao region of the Dominican Republic. Also known as San Jos茅 de las Matas, Santelises described the municipality as 鈥渢he biggest little town鈥� of the country.
Now, she鈥檚 an organizer with the Dominican American Coalition of 黑料吃瓜网 in Bridgeport.
鈥淲e have in all the cities [in 黑料吃瓜网], but especially in Bridgeport, a lot of people that are moving from New York,鈥� Santelises said. 鈥淭hey come to the center all the time, [saying] 鈥極h, please, we never have a parade here in 黑料吃瓜网. Could you please start doing this?鈥� And then we decided it's the time to do it.鈥欌��
Dominicans make up the third largest Hispanic group in 黑料吃瓜网, behind Puerto Ricans and Mexicans, according to .
While the Dominican community in 黑料吃瓜网 has had cultural festivals in the past, including a second annual festival in Downtown Norwich back in 2022, co-organizer Maria Matos explained the parade is what makes their upcoming event historic.
鈥淭he Dominican parade in New York is a famous parade,鈥� Matos said. 鈥淎lso, Boston has a parade. New Jersey has a parade where they showcase the queens and all that. They do all kinds of stuff. But 黑料吃瓜网 doesn't have anything, and we think it鈥檚 time already.鈥�
Bridgeport鈥檚 Dominican Parade and Festival on Sunday, August 17 will feature themed floats, traditional outfits, and well-known Dominican musicians, government representatives, kings and queens, and sportsmen including boxers and basketball players.
Attendees can also expect to see Diablos Cojuelos, these colorful masked mischief-makers, and Roba la Gallina, a popular Dominican character of a woman chicken thief.
This year, the parade is honoring the city of La Romana, Matos said, because of all the support many La Romana residents provided when they were organizing the event.
During the event, however, judges will be there keeping an eye out on which Dominican cities or towns are best represented amongst the crowd.
鈥淪o everybody be ready to represent their city,鈥� Matos said, 鈥渂ecause whoever is best represented is going to be the next parade for the next year, we're going to be celebrating their city.鈥�
During the festival, Matos said there will also be all different kinds of Latin food and live performances, including from well-known merengue artist Fefita La Grande.
Santelises is encouraging all Hispanics in 黑料吃瓜网 to come celebrate Dominican culture.
鈥淏ecause if we鈥檙e united,鈥� Santelises said, 鈥渨e can achieve big things [like this] and keep making sure that all our celebrations are done in a big way, just how we like it.鈥�
Learn more
The will be held on Sunday, August 17. The parade will start at noon at Seaside Park, 1 Barnum Dyke, Bridgeport.
The parade will go around the park and end at Park Avenue where the festival will take place through the rest of the day.
You can also for more information about the parade/festival and future events.
