Calle Ocho Festival

Calle-ocho-festival-2001

The Calle Ocho Festival (“El Festival de la Calle Ocho”) is a one-day fiesta that culminates the Miami Carnaval. It takes place in March in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida between SW 8th Street and 27th Avenue.^[1]

The festival is one of the largest in the world, and over one million visitors attend the Calle Ocho event. It is a free street festival that showcases Pan-American culture.^[2][3]

History

Calle Ocho started in 1978 as a way for Cuban immigrants to express themselves and teach about their culture in the community.^[4][5] The festival’s focus grew to include participation from all Latin American countries^[6]

In 1996, the festival was cancelled due to the shooting down of four Cuban exile aviators, by Cuban warplanes on February 24, 1996. The aviators were part of the Brothers to the Rescue organization.^[7]

Program

The annual festival shuts down 24 blocks of SW 8th Street in order to host dancing, food, drink and 30 stages of live entertainment.^[8]

The stages are spread throughout Little Havana, and host various styles of Latin music from the Hispanic countries and the Caribbean,^[9] from merengue to top 40 pop music.

Carnaval Miami is organized and sponsored by the Kiwanis Club service organization of Little Havana.^[10]

Recognitions

In 1988, the festival set the Guinness World Record with 119,986 people in the world’s longest conga line.^[11]

In 1990, a world-record-breaking 10,000-pound piñata was featured.^[12]

In 2000, the Guinness World Record was set for the world’s longest cigar.

In 2008, Calle Ocho broke the record for the most domino players at the event.

In 2010, the Florida legislature identified the Calle Ocho-Open House 8 festival as the official state festival.^[13]

In 2012, the festival broke the world record for the largest flag image ever created. The flag measured 250 feet long and 36 feet wide, and was marched down the street by over 100 volunteers^[14]

References