The Puerto Rican Day Parade drew huge crowds to Manhattan on Sunday, with revelers putting their pride on boisterous display in what organizers called the largest cultural festival in the country.
Bomba music blasted along the Fifth Avenue parade route throughout the day as the sun beat down and everybody in sight was all smiles in a sea of red, white and blue clothing.
“Everybody’s having a good time. When we represent Puerto Rico, we represent their heart,” said Chris Santiago, 23, of The Bronx, who has been to the event every year since he was a child.
“I’m celebrating the way Puerto Ricans are celebrating: having a good time, drinking too much alcohol and just having fun and representing Puerto Rico,” he said. “Everybody knows if you’re Puerto Rican, you already know how we get down.”
Santiago wasn’t wrong. The party was pumping from Midtown through the Upper East Side with attendees including Puerto Rican super rapper Bad Bunny.
Dancing pervaded among the young and old in what 30-year-old Destiny Napoleoni called “beautiful.
“You see everybody out here. We’re representing ourselves, our history, all of that. But this is us,” she said. “We get to sit here and represent ourselves, love ourselves regardless no matter what race. But today it’s all of us out here, all one, together, united.”
Sunday’s parade was the 68th annual event.
It wasn’t clear how many people turned out for this year’s parade, but organizers had predicted more than 1 million attendees and participants.
Among them was 35-year-old Lisa Santiago, a Lower East Side native who previously attended the parade with her father every year. She celebrated Sunday for the first time without him after he recently passed away.
“We would just kind of celebrate here, listen to the music, dance, pass the rum, the Bacardi,” said Santiago, who was wearing a baseball jersey and gold Yankees pendant that belonged to her dad — saying she felt like his spirit was dancing alongside her.
She said she had mixed emotions but believes that her dad was with her in spirit.
“It’s a lot. To be honest, a little bit of sadness with so much joy. He is [here]. He definitely is. Believe me, he is. Every single time I wave the flag,” she said.