Coleman Park Latin Festival pulls high first-year turnout

Saturday’s Latin Festival, the first of its kind held at Coleman Memorial Park, saw a full amphitheater, with parking scarce throughout the park.

Coleman Park Board of Trustees member and organizer George Rodriguez said the event went perfectly; the weather was clear and fairly cool, there were attendees of diverse ages and backgrounds, and attendees enjoyed entertainment throughout the day.

“It’s been very smooth today, I don’t think we could’ve asked for a better first year, ever,” said Rodriguez. “Our community is filled with great Latino people, and being that nobody else was doing one this year, I felt this was a perfect time to step in and start a first annual and build off of it.”

Rodriguez said he and other members of the board of trustees began planning the festival as a fundraiser for the park around four months ago. The goal, he said, was to provide a proof of concept to put on the festival as a recurring annual event.

“It accomplishes a lot for the park, showing that the park is a place to bring people from everywhere together,” said Rodriguez. “I think being able to throw this and have it be successful shows the proof of concept, and shows that we can bring everybody together to our small town. I think that’s important, that’s what this park is here for.”

Lebanon has seen previous Latin festivals, Rodriguez explained, but with no other one being organized this year, he felt Coleman Park would be a good location. Due to the organization of park roads, the event is less disruptive to traffic than occupying a block of the city, he said, and the spacious amphitheater is surrounded by the rest of the park, creating a noise buffer for neighbors.

“Although [previous festivals] were great, it caused a lot of traffic back-up, a lot of commotion, music was too loud, trash was all over the neighborhood; the city wasn’t too happy about the aftermath of it,” said Rodriguez, though he was not personally involved in organization of previous Latin festivals. “So being able to take that away from the inner city and bring it out to the park, but still have the inner city come, it’s beautiful, beautiful. I’m just so happy and blessed to be involved.”

Rodriguez said planning for next year will begin soon so organizers have more time to find sponsors and vendors. While this year’s entrance fee was $5 for adults (free for kids), he said he hopes next year they can find enough sponsors for the event to be free to the community.

“I’m grateful for the people paying and understanding that it is a fundraiser, and nobody complained or anything, but I would like a free event, so want to get more sponsorships so we’re able to do that next year,” he said.

The event ran 1 to 7 p.m., with a variety of food and nonfood vendors and a band, as well as a DJ much of the day.

Rodriguez estimated around 500 attendees, but said it was difficult to determine.