Carnaval del Sol Carries Latin America Flair to Vancouver
The aim of the Carnival is to bring different communities together and to raise awareness of Latin American cultural heritage
July 26th, 2016Beginning with the Latin American contingent to the annual Canada Day Parade on July 1, Latin American Week included a number of launch events that led up to the full weekend down at the Concord Pacific Place venue the weekend of July 9 and 10, running from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m.
The event was broken down into three different parts which were mainly based on eating, playing and live the Latin America atmosphere at the Carnaval.
“We really want people to feel that they are experiencing life in Latin America” noted the founder and executive director of the Latincouver Cultural and Business Society, Paola Murillo, the group behind the free annual event that started in 2009.
Murillo also stated that “We began with a very small event in Strathcona Park with about 800 people and then went on to have 100,000 on Granville Street in 2013,”. “That meant we needed a bigger space and moved to Concord Pacific Place which is perfect. Because there are over 100,000 Latin Americans living here and we want to create an event that showcases how we are a part of Vancouver and B.C.”
In addition to the main stage, where more than 150 individual artists and bands performed during the Carnaval´s celebration, the huge open space between Science World and the Plaza of Nations was transformed into seven different plazas.
At the event assistants could also try food at the food plaza where more than 20 venders gathered together to sell food from countries all over Latin America. Another of the plazas was just to drink beers such as Sol Cerveza and Dos Equis.