Downtown’s Balloonapalooza To Be Replaced By Latina Festival
Monday July 6th, 2015, 10:03pm
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A popular downtown Windsor summer festival is being replaced by a new concept.
Fiesta Latina will replace Balloonapalooza the weekend of August 14th to 16th.
The new summer festival is billed as a free celebration of Latin American music, dance and culture. Organizers say it will feature rhythm, dance, children’s workshops and plenty of youth activities.
Kicking off the festival is the Pachanga Latin Band. Pachanga, meaning “Celebration”, is a Latin band renowned in southwestern Ontario for its powerful influence on the Latin music scene.
Organizers say Pachanga’s high energy connects, thrills and entertains audiences with their diverse repertoire, including Brazil’s Samba and Bossa Nova; the Dominican Republic’s Merengue; romantic Mexican ballads; Columbia’s Cumbia; and Puerto Rico and Cuba’s sizzling Salsa.
Headlining Friday night is Eliana Cuevas. Born in Venezuela, Cuevas is an accomplished singer-songwriter whose compositional and lyrical palette have delighted audiences world-round, including Germany, Venezuela, Japan and Australia. Cuevas’ accolades include the National Jazz Award for Latin Jazz Artist of the Year (2009), a nomination for Best World Music Solo Artist at the Canadian Folk Music Awards (2008), a Toronto Independent Music Award for Best World Music Artist(2007), a nomination for Best Latin Song (‘Llegó from ESPEJO) at the Independent Music Awards (2014) and, most recently, an Independent Music Award for Best Latin Album for ESPEJO (2014) and a Toronto Independent Music Award for Best World Music Artist (2014).
The BIA says that the new festival is expected to attract visitors from southwestern Ontario, Michigan and beyond.
More information is expected to be released Tuesday.