Pittsburgh Hispanic Heritage Festival set for this weekend at PNC Park
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Music, food, and more will be on display today at PNC Park.
That's the location of the first Hispanic Heritage Festival in Pittsburgh.
"When we first moved to Pittsburgh we saw a lack of culture in terms of Hispanic culture," said Benny Ulloa, owner of Emiliano's Mexican Restaurant. " So, we figured we'd bring an event like this which I have seen in other parts of the country."
Ulloa said while this is the first festival, it's not the first time they've done something like this.
"We first did one of these a few years ago next to one of our restaurants in the South Side and the plan was to continue to do it but just hadn't been able to because of the pandemic," he said.
The event will take place in the left field lounge at the ballpark and there will be two sessions - one from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. and then from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m.
Tickets are available on Emiliano's website at this link.
"It's a family-oriented event," explained Ulloa. "So there's going to be activities for the little ones: face painting, sugar skull decorating, a guacamole-making station."
He said of course there will be tequila, but also authentic Hispanic music.
Pittsburgh-based Karibe Son will be the headliner. They started in Pittsburgh about four years ago and now, their sound is truly international.
"We actually just came back from touring Columbia, we came back a couple of weeks ago, we're representing Pittsburgh obviously because this is our hometown," said Angelo Amador, one of the members of Karibe Son.
"We are representing Pittsburgh, we are local and we are so proud to be representing this city," added Gustavo Pinilla.
Pittsburgh has a growing Hispanic population and organizers said they want to highlight their culture here.
"I think it's important for people to live together, to work together, and to enjoy all these different customs that we have together as well," Ulloa said.