A festival celebrating Puerto Rican music, food and culture is returning to Elgin after a 14-year hiatus.
BoricuaFest is being organized by Boricuas Unidos de Elgin and will be held from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, at downtown Festival Park. General admission tickets, available for $5, are available at www.boricuasunidos.org. Children 12 and younger attend for free.
Among the music headliners is Projecto 7, a local salsa and Latin jazz band led by Arturo Velazquez.
“One of the things that was important for us in returning was that we wanted to make sure we were highlighting a singer and bandleader from Elgin,” said Gil Feliciano, Boricuas Unidos board president.
Projecto 7 was founded in Elgin in 2005 and is well known throughout the Chicago area, Feliciano said.
Other performers include Bomberxs D’Cora, which does traditional Afro-Puerto Rican bomba music and dance; Algarii, a Latin/Reggaeton/rap artist from Chicago; and Tony y Sus Campesinos, a band that plays traditional Puerto Rican folk and Latin music.
The fest will include authentic Puerto Rican food, dance performances, local vendors, facility activities and community resources.
It’s also an opportunity to learn about and show pride for Puerto Rican culture, Feliciano said.
The first Puerto Rican Fest was held in 1993, and featured both a parade and festival. One year, internationally known salsa singer Eddie Santiago headlined the event, drawing one of its largest crowds, Feliciano said.
Puerto Rican Fest ended in 2012, in part because city sponsorship dollars were no longer available, a problem that also impacted Fiesta Salsa, which was held during Hispanic Heritage Month, he said.
In response, city officials decided to hold an International Fest, or iFest, to honor all the different cultures that make up Elgin. That was held annually until 2019, when Elgin started revamping its special events and launched a Mexican Independence Day celebration in 2023. Originally called Canta con Orgullo, it’s now known as La Fiesta de Elgin.
When social media posters questioned why the city’s event was focused solely on Mexican culture, the seed for BoricuaFest was planted, Feliciano said.
A group of volunteers formed Boricuas Unidos de Elgin, committed to celebrating Puerto Rican culture, building community and empowering people of all ages through Puerto Rican cultural events, educational programs and community initiatives, according to its website.
“I’m so proud of where they were and where they are now. It’s leaps and bounds,” Feliciano said. “I’m sure they are going to pull off a great festival.”
One of the first things Boricuas Unidos did was change the festival’s name to BoricuaFest. The group wanted a new festival name to represent a new chapter, he said.
Boricua means valiant warrior in Taino, one of the original languages spoken on the island, Feliciano said. It’s a term Puerto Ricans use to express pride in their heritage.
BoricuaFest will be the organization’s signature event. They decided to start small this year by limiting it to just one afternoon but there are hopes to expand it in the future, Feliciano said.
“We wanted to get our feet wet,” he said. “It’s important that it’s small but great. We are putting a lot of heart and soul into it.”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The (Elgin) Courier-News.
