The festivities commence at 11 a.m. with a Community Parade featuring the work of Garbagia , an eco-urban recycled arts initiative that will work throughout the month with local artists and residents to conduct art building workshops to create instruments, flower masks, ‘vejigantes,’ paper mache animal masks, and other props—with an emphasis on recycled and found materials. On the Festival Main Stage, host Awilda Rodriguez Lora will introduce an eclectic mix of Latinx musical acts, including the Lower East Side’s very own, Son del Monte, led by renowned timablero Manuel Rivera , who will be performing their take on the Cuban charanga. The lineup also includes Puerto Rican pleneros La Maquina Insular , whose lineup features Hector “Tito” Matos and other members of Viento de Agua , a group known for revitalizing the Puerto Rican musical traditions of bomba y plena. Making their Festival debut will be Nuyorican experimental salsa orchestra, Abrazos Army. Rounding out the main stage lineup will be Afro-Cuban dancer Yesenia Selier and Puerto Rican theatre troupe, Y No Había Luz .
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