Expect to hear salsa and merengue and to taste arroz con gandules, rice with pigeon peas. But organizers hope to mirror traditional daily life by re-creating the bodega, the store that is not just a store in rural Latin and Caribbean communities, but the center for gossip, domino competitions and music. Think of the bodega as a bit like the modern-day Stewart's Shops. Even today, East Main Street's Louis Market captures the spirit of the bodega. Owner Zacarias Camilo smiles when someone jokes he is the receiver of gossip, whether he wants the information or not.
People stand in line to buy the brown-skinned yucca root, but also to chat.
Merengue plays in the background and Camilo, who has Dominican roots, handily pulls out the guira, a grated cylinder he plays to make merengue rhythms. The festival's growth in six years from a block party to an event that draws thousands of people from the Capital Region says much about the progress of Amsterdam's Latinos, said Ladan Munoz, executive director of Centro Civico, the non-profit human services agency. Centro Civico is an organizer of the festival, sponsored by area businesspeople and the New York State Council on the Arts. Now, the event is located at the lush Guy Park Manor, the grounds of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, which uses a picture of the festival to promote local tourism. For Latinos, the event is an occasion for pride and for others, a chance to learn.