Latino festival will make move downtown in 2008
2007 event to be held in St. Rose Hispanic Parish Center lot

FREEHOLD - The Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey (Monmouth Chapter) and the Latino Festival Committee have announced an agreement with Freehold Borough and the Freehold Center Partnership to hold the 2008 Latino Festival in the downtown area of Freehold Borough.

The 2007 Latino Festival will be held on Oct. 6 in the parking lot of the St. Rose Hispanic Parish Center, off McLean Street, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to festival committee co-chair Lazaro Cardenas. For the last two years the festival has been held at the Park Avenue Elementary School on Park Avenue.

"The first two years our goal was to get the festival established," Cardenas said. "We now feel we have enough of a base and enough recognition that we can move the festival closer to downtown and eventually bring it right to the center of town."

Festival committee co-chair Cecilia Reynolds noted that negotiations began earlier this year with borough officials and the Freehold Center Partnership to bring the festival to the downtown area.

"The Latino community of Freehold has a lot to offer the borough and the region and we hope the festival will become a small symbol of the their enormous contribution. By bringing it downtown we hope to encourage participation by all segments of the community," she said.

Cardenas and Reynolds thanked Freehold Borough Board of Education officials for hosting the festival for the first two years, as well as the church administration for agreeing to host it this year.

According to a press release, the festival's full entertainment schedule will be announced in the next few weeks. Typically, the festival has included a wide range of live entertainment including flamenco dancing, dance troupes from the Caribbean and Mexico, Latin rap and jazz music. DJ Lady C will return again to host the festivities.

In addition to Cardenas and Reynolds, the festival committee includes Suzanne Crandall, Ann Bagchi, Yeni M. Cardenas, Anna "Cuqui" Rivera, Frank Argote-Freyre, Juan Reyes, Janet Morales, Lidia Daniels, Gabriela Garnier, Diane Tennis, Virginia Taverna, RoseAnn McCrohan and Donna Buhl.