A Puerto Rican Parade Of Pride

By JULIE PACE jpace@tampatrib.com
Published: Apr 25, 2005
Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - While rows of restaurant workers marinated vats of carne asada and chilled gallons of pina coladas, Ivette DaRoza set out dishes she cooked in her own kitchen.

``I'm used to it,'' DaRoza said, stirring a pan of pernil y yuca she prepared to sell. ``I've cooked for big groups before.''

Sunday's feast was 54-year- old DaRoza's largest cooking adventure. DaRoza set up her corner booth, along with about a dozen other vendors, to help feed the crowd at the Puerto Rican Cultural Parade and Festival. Nearly 50,000 people, most dressed in the red, white and blue of the Puerto Rican flag, filled the streets of Ybor City for the 17th annual event.

The festival is a family affair for DaRoza. Her mother, Gloria Rivera, founded the festival - the first of its kind in Florida - in 1988. After suffering a stroke, Rivera passed on control of the festival to her two daughters, DaRoza and Sandra Acevevo.

``We still maintain, 100 percent, our mission, which is to maintain Puerto Rican culture and folklore and family,'' said Acevevo, president of the festival committee.

The parade has expanded into a daylong event, bringing together Puerto Ricans from throughout the nation. Several Puerto Rican dignitaries and celebrities took part in this year's festivities, including WBO lightweight champion Miguel Cotto and Puerto Rican music legend Antonio Caban Vale.

The festival is the Bay area's largest Puerto Rican event.

``We wait the whole year for this,'' Acevevo said. ``It's a day you can find anything you could get in Puerto Rico.''

Getting a taste of her homeland is what brought San Juan native and Sarasota resident Iris Marrero to the parade.

``We're far away from home,'' Marrero said. ``You get closer to your culture here.''

While the festival draws crowds with its savory food and energetic music, the committee also invites Puerto Rican-owned businesses to set up booths to promote themselves. It's an aspect of the festival that's close to the heart of its founder, Rivera, and her family.

``All her life, [Rivera] was a businesswoman,'' Acevevo said. ``So it's important to us that we help patronize the businesses we create and help the local economy.''

Obed Gómez, an artist and graphic designer, is one of those benefiting from the festival's support of Puerto Rican business. As patrons browsed through paintings at Gomez's booth, he noted the importance of the Puerto Rican community's increasing purchasing power.

The Puerto Rican community ``is growing everywhere,'' Gomez said. ``We have the numbers of people.''

Almost 70,000 people of Puerto Rican descent live in Hillsborough County, according to census data. The population has increased by 20,000 since 2000.

Supporting Puerto Rican businesses is part of what DaRoza called ``hay bendito.''

``It means you have a soft part,'' DaRoza said. ``It's something in us that tries to help everybody.''