Fiesta Latina - Nov. 21

[ScottAiges]

FIESTA LATINA!

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation's third annual Fiesta Latina takes place this Saturday at Zephyr Field.

A free festival celebrating the influence of Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean on New Orleans' culture, Fiesta Latina includes music, food, crafts and soccer activities for kids and adults.

See the official event web site for the complete schedule: www.FiestaLatinaNola.com (http://www.fiestalatinanola.com).

Time: 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Location: Zephyr Field. The event takes place in the soccer field behind the baseball stadium's right field fence (not in the stadium itself or in LaSalle Park).
Admission: Festival admission is free. Parking at Zephyr Field costs $5 per vehicle.

Hot Latin dance band Grupo Fantasma from Austin, TX, joins a who's who of New Orleans-based groups - including Rumba Buena, Fredy Omar, Otra, Vivaz, AsheSon and many more - at the third annual Fiesta Latina, a free festival presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation.


It takes place Saturday, Nov. 21, at Zephyr Stadium (6000 Airline Hwy., Metairie).


In addition to two stages of music (and a dance floor), there will be great food, unique arts & crafts and soccer activities for kids and adults. So come hungry, wear your soccer jersey and do some early holiday shopping.


For the complete performance schedule, vendors and all the other details, please see the official event web site, www.fiestalatinanola.com (http://www.fiestalatinanola.com).

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation and Fiesta Latina gratefully acknowledge these sponsors:

Miller Lite

Louisiana Dept. of Culture Recreation & Tourism

Chivas Regal

Peoples Health

Louisiana Lottery

WWOZ-FM

DIRECTV

Jefferson Parish

Tulane University's Stone Center for Latin American Studies

Louisiana Division of the Arts

CubaNola

Musicians for Music

El Tiempo

Gala Music

Gambit

Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Hondurenos Unidos de Louisiana

Jambalaya News

La Fabulosa

LatiNola/Puentes

Lamar Advertising

LSU Healthcare Network

Radio Tropical

Soccer in the Streets

Telemundo

TodoSport

Vocero

Zande+Newman Design

[Fred (Texas JF Fanatic)]

Grupo Fantasma Rocks!!!! Wish I was in town for this.

[ScottAiges]

Yeah, saw them in Austin a couple of years ago, blew me away.

[Fred (Texas JF Fanatic)]

Yeah, saw them in Austin a couple of years ago, blew me away.

They have played the Fair Grounds before. I want to say 2008, first act on Gentilly stage before Sonny Landreth. I had to double check.

2008 Schedule
Grupo Fantasma opens up Gentilly Stage 2nd Sunday. If you have the time and open time slot 2nd Sunday, they are worth checking out.

2nd Sunday:
Gentilly Stage
Grupo Fantasma @ 11:20
Sonny Landreth @ 12:35

[ScottAiges]

Fiesta Latina will go on Saturday, despite the threat of rain. Hope to see some of you there.

[ScottAiges]

Fiesta Latina Countdown

The third annual Fiesta Latina is here! Saturday, Nov. 21, we'll be at Zephyr Field (6000 Airline Drive). Look for us on the south side of the parking lot, in the area behind the baseball field's right-field fence (close to the Saints practice camp). Festival admission is free! (Parking: $5 per vehicle.)

Rain or Shine!
The weather's looking kind of iffy, but we'll be out there without fail. You never can tell where those showers will land. Even if some moisture should come our way, we'll be dancing between the raindrops!

18 Bands!
We have 18 performances on two stages scheduled, from 10:30 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. All your favorites, from Fredy Omar (pictured) to Rumba Buena to Grupo Fantasma to Otra to Vivaz and many more, will be there. See the complete schedule here!

¡Fútbol! (Soccer!)
Meet great Honduran fútbol stars in soccer clinics for kids starting at noon. Tommy Marshall from VIDA (in La Ceiba), famed Olimpia striker Jorge Brann, Victoria star Nato Ramiers and the great Tony Lain will join our own Fredy Omar for youth soccer drills. After tournaments for kids and womens' teams, two of the top teams from the league Los Pelicanos - Real Honduras and los Broncos de Choluteca - will square off in an exhibition match.

La Cocinita
Some of the best Latin eateries in the city will entice with delicacies of all descriptions: Taqueria Chilangos, Brazilian Market & Café, Baru Bistro, Canseco's Market, Pupuseria Divino Corazon and TCA Brocato will all be there. Come hungry!

El Mercadito
Thirty of the most creative artists, jewlers, crafters and artisans of our region will be with us displaying a huge array of hand-made collectibles. Ayo Scott, Christina Miller, E.E. Williams, Dr. Bob and Linda Searcy are just a few of those showcased in our crafts village.

At Your Service
More than 30 local nonprofit organizations will provide information about their community services. LatiNola, Job Corps, Medicaid, City Year, the American Red Cross and many other groups that support the community will be there.

Live on WWOZ
If you can't make it out to Zephyr Field, tune in to your Jazz & Heritage community radio station, WWOZ 90.7 FM, or stream online at wwoz.org. We'll be broadcasting live from the festival all day long.

Check Us Out Online
For more about Fiesta Latina, visit the official event web site, www.FiestaLatinaNola.com. To learn about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, see: www.jazzandheritage.org.

[Orleansnj]

Scott - would love your take on how the Fest went....

[ScottAiges]

Scott - would love your take on how the Fest went....


http://photos.nola.com/4500/gallery/fiesta_latina/index.html

Not sure how long you stayed. Obviously, the rain hurt us bad. We were able to do the whole show - the only band that didn't play was Otra. And the people who were there had a great time, I think. But there weren't many of them - and I do believe that if we hadn't had a week's worth of forecasts saying Saturday would be total washout, that we'd have had several thousand people there.

In terms of the venue and layout, I pretty much loved it. Not to say there aren't things we wouldn't tweak. Maybe just one stage, have more dedicated times for things like the Mariachis and the capoeira. But the soccer component was just as we'd hoped. I, for one, loved the lagniappe of the "bird cage."

A lot of crafts vendors cancelled. The food vendors were, of course, disappointed. But man, that food was killin'! The pork quesadillas and the Brazilian shrimp cocktail were off the charts.

The bands, of course, were great. We had a pretty major technical glitch toward the end of the show, which caused Ven Pa' Ca to bust a move down on the dance floor, acoustic style, instead of onstage - but they were consummate pros and total troupers, and everyone there had their mind blown (not exactly like a small flamenco bar in Sevilla at 3 am, but you got the vibe).

So, my take? I had my shrimp boots on and had a blast. Do I wish it had been a sunny forecast? Of course. Would we do it again in the same place, same time of year and in the same way? Quite possibly. But we reserve the right to completely re-think the event and try something entirely different.

What's your take?

[windowman]

http://photos.nola.com/4500/gallery/fiesta_latina/index.html

Not sure how long you stayed. Obviously, the rain hurt us bad. We were able to do the whole show - the only band that didn't play was Otra. And the people who were there had a great time, I think. But there weren't many of them - and I do believe that if we hadn't had a week's worth of forecasts saying Saturday would be total washout, that we'd have had several thousand people there.

In terms of the venue and layout, I pretty much loved it. Not to say there aren't things we wouldn't tweak. Maybe just one stage, have more dedicated times for things like the Mariachis and the capoeira. But the soccer component was just as we'd hoped. I, for one, loved the lagniappe of the "bird cage."

A lot of crafts vendors cancelled. The food vendors were, of course, disappointed. But man, that food was killin'! The pork quesadillas and the Brazilian shrimp cocktail were off the charts.

The bands, of course, were great. We had a pretty major technical glitch toward the end of the show, which caused Ven Pa' Ca to bust a move down on the dance floor, acoustic style, instead of onstage - but they were consummate pros and total troupers, and everyone there had their mind blown (not exactly like a small flamenco bar in Sevilla at 3 am, but you got the vibe).

So, my take? I had my shrimp boots on and had a blast. Do I wish it had been a sunny forecast? Of course. Would we do it again in the same place, same time of year and in the same way? Quite possibly. But we reserve the right to completely re-think the event and try something entirely different.

What's your take?

I am sorry you had such crappy weather, and I was one of the casualties. I had just gotten over an upper respiratory crud episode during the week and did not want to deal with the cool dampness. It is a shame because looking at everything that the festival had scheduled it s should have been awesome. I hope that the vendors were not hurt so badly that you will be able to present something similar next year. I think the potential is there for it to be big, more than the other fests y'all have done between jazzfests.