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SkiP HappEns Podcast
Celebrating Culture: The Syracuse Latino Festival's Journey from Hot Dogs to Headliners
morning, hi everybody hello so let me just I want to make sure I can hear everything and check two and one, two. I'm going to show off my legs of course I can see that I know exactly you want to show off your good legs. Villa La Real.
Speaker 2:Villa Real.
Speaker 1:Villa Real.
Speaker 2:Exactly Perfect. Okay, all right.
Speaker 1:All right, and we're going to edit this part off, don't worry. Okay, here we go. God, I love working with you. We're going to have a ball If you come over here.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, definitely. We're going to talk about everything and anything everything on anything and everybody's like who are those guys?
Speaker 1:oh my goodness, oh my, they are fun. Which on country radio? Uh-huh, okay, all right, here we go. Oh my god, oh my god, all right, here we go, coming to you in three, two, one. Hello everybody, and welcome to the inner harbor cast. My name is skip clark and I'm the host, and I'm joined by Fannie Villareal. Villareal, villareal, did I say that right?
Speaker 2:Perfect, you did it great.
Speaker 1:Who is, by the way, the executive director of the CNY Latino and the force behind an upcoming event, the Syracuse Latino Festival. It's happening Saturday, gets underway at noon. From what I understand, it goes well into the nighttime until about 10 o'clock. But not only that, but I want to talk a little bit about the culture, the community and what makes this year's festival so very special. So welcome, Fanny, it's so good to see you.
Speaker 2:Oh great, it's good to see you.
Speaker 1:You know, just the energy when you walk through that front door to do an interview is like you make my day well, I'm glad I did it and it's only tuesday. I love it while we're recording this on tuesday.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but yes so I'm not executive director of the cny latino okay I am the executive director of the y wca oh well, it printed out wrong because I went.
Speaker 1:Went to AI. We'll do it over again. Okay, the YWCA, correct. Okay, coming to you in three, two, one. Hi there, everybody, and welcome to the Inner Harbor cast. My name is Skip Clark and I'm your host, and today I'm joined by Fannie Villareal, the executive director of the YWCA here in Syracuse. Director of the YWCA here in Syracuse. Yeah, and the force behind the upcoming Syracuse Latino Festival, which is happening Saturday, by the way, gets underway at noon, runs until 10 o'clock that night. Pretty excited, and, by the way, it's right over there in Clinton Square. We'll be talking not only about that, but the culture, the community and what makes this year's festival so very special. So we're going to dive right in, Fanny, welcome, it's so good to see you.
Speaker 2:Oh, great to see you, Skip. This is awesome. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, you know. I mean, my day was like, okay, what are we going to do today? And then Fanny walks through my door and it's like the energy level just went up.
Speaker 2:It's like it's so much fun. Yes, because we're going to have fun, along with information.
Speaker 1:Tell me a little bit about yourself, phil, and your journey with CNY Latino. Of course you've been with that. Now you're the executive director at the YWCA, but tell me about yourself, tell us, Sure.
Speaker 2:So I'm Fanny. I am Fanny Villarreal, you love that part? Now roll my tongue. I love it, and originally from Peru and I choose to have Syracuse as my home. Now, I've been here almost my entire life and I'm very proud of my city. I'm very proud of the people that live in this wonderful city of Syracuse and Onondaga County. And how I started, I guess contributed to the community was well, number one, the radio that is here also.
Speaker 1:Because you are on the air. Yes, one of our sister stations.
Speaker 2:Yes, and the sister station. We are on the air. So that's one thing. Oh, another one is that I've been executive director for different not-for-profits around and I always find ways to educate the community about the contributions that Latinos have provided to the city, to the county. And I'm very proud of that, of the Latino Festival, because that helped our Latino youth to. You know, set a dream and get some scholarships and go for it, whether it's going to the university, a trade school, whatever it is. You know, not everybody is born to be a student in a university, so we have to support our youngest dreams.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So, and that's pretty much what's behind the festival that's coming up this weekend. How did that first come to life?
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, the festival was back in 1992, 93, and it was like a teeny, tiny small group of people having like hot dogs and hamburgers in Seymour School. That's how it started. Yes, and hot dogs, and a couple of friends from actually, rochester, Victor Antonetti and his band a small band came and been always by our side when we did have no money to pay for, for nobody to come and present. And now that we're growing, we continue with that tradition because you have to be loyal to the people that help you in the very beginning.
Speaker 1:I love that. What makes this festival this year Clinton Square, saturday at noon, beginning at noon. What makes it unique compared to the previous years?
Speaker 2:at noon. What makes it unique compared to the previous years? Well, because we have such a beautiful ethnic food that we're going to bring. Before it was food from Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic and Dominican Republic, puerto Rico. That was the whole food that we have. Now we have not only Dominican Republic and Puerto Rican, but we have a combination of Mexican, a Colombian food yeah, that is a new one Colombian- Colombian yes, we have a Colombian food truck in our city now, so we invite them.
Speaker 2:Nice yeah. If you didn't never try food from Colombia, oh my God. This is awesome. It's a taste of what Colombia has to offer. Now we have the Peruvian restaurant. That is an Inca Peruvian restaurant, so now people get more to it Peruvian food, but now it's a taste of Colombia.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I love this. You know what you're saying about the food. I think we've talked about this before. I've been here, obviously, all my life, and we're big baseball fans and we used to house some of the syracuse players that were down for the majors, and we all know that a lot of those players are colombian, venezuelan and, I guess, latino. Yes, and they would uh, their wives would take over my kitchen and I'm gonna tell you whether it was soup or that. What the plantains?
Speaker 1:oh my god just, it's like almost almost every homestand at least one night they would, they would be in charge of dinner and they would make something new, something we hadn't had before. So it's like the culture coming into my home oh, that's beautiful and I'm just gonna tell you there was nothing like it. There's nothing like it.
Speaker 2:There's nothing like it. Sancocho from Dominican Republic. Yeah, oh my God, that is the soup that probably you're talking about. That is delicious. With all the potatoes and all the veggies and all kinds of meats, it's just like, oh my God, delicious. Oh, now I'm hungry, I know.
Speaker 1:And a funny story. And Now I'm hungry, I know. And a funny story. We're going to get back talking about the festival and talk more about the Latino community. So am I, by the way. But I remember coming home from the radio stations here one night. The team had an off day and I went down my street. There's nothing but cars on both sides of the street. I'm going. What's going on? Oh?
Speaker 2:my gosh, it's at my house.
Speaker 1:So I pull in my. The fire pit was roaring and they had a thing of soup, a big pot of soup that they were cooking over my fire pit. There were whole chunks of beef, chicken, corn on the cob.
Speaker 2:And I got everything, anything and everything was in that soup. That's what it was, and it was so good.
Speaker 1:But anyway, that's a story for another time. My neighbors must have thought I was nuts. It's OK. So what can we expect? You mentioned the food. What about the music?
Speaker 2:Oh, music is going to be beautiful. We're going to have this artist coming bringing music from Dominican Republic. It's Bachata Merengue. Her name is Mighty Mighty. It is going to be beautiful. She's an upcoming young artist. Young artist and she writes her own music, so it's even better. The lyrics are like you gotta listen to the lyrics to understand. You know where. I don't even know where she comes with these lyrics, because put you like oh or oh, so it, it's like two different ways. You're like yeah, and then we're coming this. You know how salsa is big in Syracuse?
Speaker 1:Oh huge.
Speaker 2:It's huge. So we're bringing this upcoming salsa singer. His name is Carlos Garcia. It's going to be amazing. He has been with all the old salsa school kind of you, with mark, anthony and, uh, tito nieves, with all of them. He'd been singing with all of them and he writes music too, so he'd been able to be with all.
Speaker 1:I'm so excited to get to know him so he's been with mark anthony and mark anthony and others and he's coming here for your festival of course he's coming here yes, I'm so happy about that, and puerto rico.
Speaker 2:He is an upcoming artist. Like I said, all TV shows everywhere that you can imagine. He is there because he's not only a singer he plays piano, he writes music, he writes his own songs and it's just incredible. Incredible he's a producer as well.
Speaker 1:Incredible. Um, I have a list of questions here, but you're like answering them as I go along, and I mean even before I asked the question. All right, she just answered that. But you know, we talked about the special guests. We're pretty excited. What about cultural showcases? So I guess, with the dancing and all that you would be showing off.
Speaker 2:Yes, so this year we have 12 different countries, that they're going to have tables and each table is going to have their own flag for that particular country and they're going to bring artifacts, they're going to read pictures, they're going to talk to the people about their own particular country as well, as this year we're going to focus on Peru, so we're bringing a group from Peru to play typical music from Peru. I know that you have heard typical music from the Andes, which is the flutes and all of that, but that's from the Andes, and Peru is divided in three different parts of the country the Andes, which is the music that we mostly have been hearing, but this one is from the coast, the one. But this one is from the coast, the one that we're bringing is from the coast.
Speaker 2:It's totally different. In the coast we don't use flutes. In the coast we use guitars like the one over there Guitars the box.
Speaker 1:I don't know. Cajon is called the.
Speaker 2:Cajon, which is originally from Peru. So the Cajon, the guitar and keyboard. So it's going to be an amazing and, of course, a wonderful singer that is coming from Peru as well.
Speaker 1:You know we bring a lot of artists in for other reasons and they come with a Cajon. You know it's like yeah, so that's going back to your.
Speaker 2:From my country. Yeah, that's from Peru. The cajon is originally from Peru, so we're going to have that Wow. And then, as you get into the festival, if you want to participate in the free giveaways you have to get a passport. And once you get a passport, then you're going to have to visit all the different countries. That's a great idea, yeah, and once you go to the different countries, you're going to have a stamp.
Speaker 1:So if I go to the festival this weekend and you'll probably see my face there, of course so I pick up a passport and then I get a stamp or a check or whatever to indicate that I was at that particular table, maybe talking with the people that are there that particular table, maybe talking with the people that are there.
Speaker 2:Right, you want to know countries. You have to visit 12 countries in order to participate, and that's the idea I said the mission of education. We want to be the bridge between the community at large and the Latino community here in Syracuse and Ananda County. And a way to do that we thought oh, free giveawaysaways. And we're talking about big free giveaways I mentioned free yeah, and it's gonna be um a 70.
Speaker 1:I think it's a 75 inch tv smart tv, yeah nice whole karaoke system, along with uh uh, chairs and baskets a lot of of different things, tons of giveaways, and that's if you visit every table, then you're in the running for all those great prizes.
Speaker 2:Right, right, right. You have to stop in each country that is going to be celebrating there.
Speaker 1:Now I understand why this festival is so important for the Latino community, but it's not just for them. It's for everybody, it's for everybody and you know Central New York community, syracuse. Come on down and see what it's about, right.
Speaker 2:Yes, we have a lot of people that are coming from Rochester, from Buffalo and in between.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're all coming.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So how does this build those bridges between you know the different cultures and communities in the region.
Speaker 2:Well, I think if you come and learn about the culture, then you will understand why sometimes react one way or the other. You know, between the, even between the Latino American cultures, there is a lot of difference. One word could mean one thing for me and another thing for somebody else that is from another country, even though it's Spanish, like, for example, the culture. Let's say that for me. I grew up that my parents will say look straight to my face and to my eyes, and I know that you are not lying. Right From another culture it says don't even look straight to me, on my eyes, look down the floor, because that's the way that you show respect. So if you don't know that culture, you could think that the people is lying or not saying the truth.
Speaker 1:So let me get this right.
Speaker 2:So if I look you straight in the eye and I talk to you, you think I'm lying no no, if you, if you in peru in peru you have to talk to the people and look straight to the eyes to make sure that you're telling the truth?
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, Because that's the way I would know if somebody's lying or not is by. Are you looking at me in my eyes.
Speaker 2:But in another countries, for example Dominican Republic, you don't look straight to the eyes because that's disrespectful. You look to the side, especially if you are the father, the teacher. That shows respect. If you're a side especially if you are the father, the teacher is that shows respect. If you're a friend, you talk like that, but you're not a friend, You're the boss. You are the boss, or you are the teacher, or you are the professor, or you are somebody with a high standard they have. They look to the side because they can. That's how they are showing you respect.
Speaker 1:I had no idea.
Speaker 2:And some people might think that they are lying. That's what they're looking at.
Speaker 1:It's like you can't look at me, then you're not telling me the truth, but the reality is they are, it's just. It's the culture.
Speaker 2:It's the culture and they are showing you respect. That's what I said how important it is to come and learn about all the different things.
Speaker 1:See, I learned something right here on this interview you already with my best friend, fanny Of course. Can you, Fanny, can you talk about some of the community organizations or maybe even the businesses that are involved in supporting this event?
Speaker 2:Oh, my God, you know. I have to say that there is this company DOT Been with us since day one and they are one of the major sponsors and they are all coming and having fun. Enjoying their presence is right there. They give away products, they talk to people, they offer jobs. It's like a whole party. They are very, very invested in the festival. It's a great thing.
Speaker 2:The New York State Health Department is another one that's been here since the very beginning, you know, to make sure that they educate people about having insurance, having a health insurance, how important it is. And then, not only that, but they talk about the importance to have a doctor that you can go and visit once a year, rather than wait until you feel sick and then you go to the emergency room, sick and then you go to the emergency room. Then we have, of course, the city of Syracuse, downtown committee, onondaga County, cny Arts and the local companies. You know Interior Innovations, jose Perez Law Offices, margaritas Restaurants, guadalajara Restaurants restaurants, guadalajara restaurants. This is a very unique company that just started and is run by a woman, and what they do is they paint and reconstruct buildings and offices. So yeah, interiors, interiors, innovations as well. And Micron.
Speaker 1:Oh, Micron.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they just came in, I think they want to do a lot in the community.
Speaker 1:Because, they need to get on the good side of things, and not that they aren't, I'm just saying they need to make themselves known and be supportive of what we're doing here, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So Micron is one of the new ones and of course, we talk about the players and the Mets. They've been extremely supportive to us and we have three Latino nights actually at the Mets and the last one is next week. It's Thursday the 21st.
Speaker 1:I'll be there.
Speaker 2:Yes, please. Well, let's invite everybody to come and have a good time, because we're going to have Latino music. We're going to dance, we're going to enjoy ourselves. Latino music we're going to dance, we're going to enjoy ourselves.
Speaker 1:So remember, 6 pm. Open doors. Yep, the gates open. Yes, be there, fanny will be there.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we'll be there welcoming everybody. What has the community response been like leading up to this? We not only they click like, but they're sharing, which is more important than clicking the like right. Sharing, sharing, sharing, sharing. And I think we're very excited with the tons of people that are coming. We're excited that you guys are helping us out with the promotion as well Love it Yesterday I was in Bridge Street are coming. We're excited that you guys are helping us out with the promotion as well Love it Yesterday I was in Bridge Street. So you know everybody's coming all together to make sure that this celebration is for everybody. Like I said in the very beginning, we are the bridge between the Latino community and the community at large, so we are excited and proud of that.
Speaker 1:Now I would assume you have a team behind you putting all this on. What are some of the challenges that you face doing an event that has grown to be the size that it is?
Speaker 2:today. You know it is funny that you asked me the question in the very beginning how it started, and I told you the hamburgers and hot dogs because we didn't have money and we just want to have fun to trying to figure it out what to do, how to do it, how to start it right. Um, today we have a mighty group of five, but those mighty group of five have their own um groups that they're working with. So per se, it's only five people that are in the core, and then they have their own friends and community members that are helping them out.
Speaker 2:So, um, on Saturday, when we um set it up, we're going to have the Rotary Club of course. Yeah, we're going to have the members of the Rotary Club coming and volunteer for that day setting it up and then cleaning up after that.
Speaker 1:Very nice. Do you accept volunteers at all? Oh yeah, somebody says hey, you know, I watched your podcast.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, or I saw you on Bridge Street.
Speaker 1:I'd like to come down and help.
Speaker 2:Yes, please, Everybody that is willing and wanted to help. You are more than welcome. We are always looking for volunteers during the whole entire year, because we work during the whole entire year to make sure that this is successful in August. So all the volunteers are welcome. You can call me, you can email me, whatever is easy. You can email me at fvsonvictor I-L-L-A-R-R-E-A-L. At ymailcom, Just make sure that is-A-L. At Ymailcom, Just make sure that is Y, as in Yahoo Ymailcom, because tend to change to G and I don't have a G, it's Y, it's Y the letter, y Don't go W-H-Y.
Speaker 2:It's the letter Y.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know Not too many people have that, but there you go, you just gave it up. You know, I know not too many people have that, but there you go, you just gave it up. You know, I see your passion and your dedication, but I'm going to ask you this question what does this festival?
Speaker 2:personally, mean to you.
Speaker 2:So to me, this is my first child per se. So I, when I started this event and you know we went in different parts of life with the festival so it was festival, it was no festival. It was festival, no festival, and for a lot of different reasons. And now that I build this festival as a not-for-profit, so nobody have to be a fiscal sponsor, so it's a festival itself. To me it's great because, again, I love to educate people about all the Latino cultures, not only me being Peruvian, but from all sides of the world, right, because the Latino culture, we are 20 different countries that are here in Syracuse and so it is important that we all engage, understand, ask questions and have a lot of fun while you are doing that, because it's a different way of living. You know, I know everybody give a hug, I hug everybody, even the person that I just know, and that doesn't mean anything you haven't hugged me, yet, oh, I did oh, you did.
Speaker 1:No, you did, I was drinking my coffee.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you were drinking your coffee, see, mr cafe mr cafe, I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, I love you but that's what it is energy is just. I just love this. Uh, what would you say to someone who's never been to the Syracuse Latino Festival, and why should they come out this year? I think you've already answered a lot of that, but again, why should they be there?
Speaker 2:So come so you can see what we are all about it. Come and enjoy the music. Come and enjoy the music, come and enjoy the food. Come and look for me and say, hey, I heard you at the radio or TV or the podcast and I wanted to be part of this, or I wanted to know, or I wanted to give you an idea, or whatever it is. Or just come and say hello, I'm going to give you a hug, so be prepared.
Speaker 1:It's a good hug, believe prepared.
Speaker 2:It's a good hug.
Speaker 1:Believe me, it's a good hug.
Speaker 2:Where can our listeners and our viewers find out more information about this festival that's coming up on Saturday? So they can go to our website, wwwlatinoamericanofestivalcom. Or you can just go into the Facebook and all the platforms you know social media is all over. So, yes, anyway, you just look Latino Festival Syracuse and all the information will come out.
Speaker 1:Do you have? Let's talk a little bit about numbers. What is the Latino community in central New York? Do you have any numbers like? What is the Latino community in central New York? Do you have any numbers Like what is the population?
Speaker 2:So, according with the census, okay, uh, 2020, we are about 15% of the city. Um, my sense is that there's a lot of people that they didn't um answer the the census, the census. And so I will say probably were more than that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would agree with you. Great people. I love it, it's so much fun. It is a lot of fun, you know, with the energy that you have and those that I know that are. Latino it's just the energy level is always so high and everybody you know they think positive about so many things.
Speaker 2:I mean the negativism doesn't exist in our blood. We don't have a stress because that's not part of the culture. So it's always the funny thing, it's always having a good time and I think it is that's part of it. There is people that say oh my god, I can't believe that she's all the time happy, how come? And I said because in my vocabulary or in my brains, stress or sadness doesn't exist. That's how I grew up, so that's how I always go, like this, and so are my kids.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I so much love this. So it's uh, it's happening this weekend and it's Saturday. It gets underway at noon at Clinton Square. It's the Syracuse Latino Festival. Fanny, thank you so much for being here. Just a lot of great information.
Speaker 2:It's going to be such a funny event.
Speaker 1:I'm not even going to try to say your last name. I'll let you do it. Villarreal, I'm not even going to try. Villarreal, perfect, do you see? But I I'm not even going to try. Feel it real perfect, do you see? I know, but I can't roll my tongue like that it's just practice.
Speaker 2:Everything can happen. It's just practice. You know, one thing that I learned is that if you do everything with love, everything is going to come out just great so, oh my gosh, that's a great.
Speaker 1:I'd like that if you do everything with love yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And that's what we're doing here today and this weekend.
Speaker 2:And every day, every day, every day.
Speaker 1:Never stop, 24-7, right.
Speaker 2:Exactly 24-7, all the time.
Speaker 1:Fanny, you're awesome. Thank you for stopping by. It's always great to see you walk through that door.
Speaker 2:Thank you Skip.
Speaker 1:It just makes me happy and um it just you know.
Speaker 2:I wish you a very successful event and chances are I'll be walking around as well.
Speaker 1:It's free, by the way. It's free so you just walk up and take advantage and learn about the different cultures. Enjoy the food dance.
Speaker 2:Yes, let's dance yeah.
Speaker 1:And if you're at the Mets it's next Thursday. It's the third Latino night.
Speaker 2:Yes, the third and the last one, august 21st. It's hard to believe, right? I know?
Speaker 1:Now, do you get involved with the fair at all?
Speaker 2:Yes, actually, I'm going to be singing at the fair.
Speaker 1:Wow. Yay where uh, come on let it, let it out at the latino village on the 30th 8 pm you know, um, I'd like to set up, I want to set up an interview and come over and talk to you over there. So, yeah, we can do that too. We can take this on the road. Yeah, um, which I've done before I did it.
Speaker 2:I did it last year and they I went to bridge street and they said can, can you sing? And I go sure what song? And I start singing. And they're like really I said, well, you asked me to sing, right? I'm like okay.
Speaker 1:So that's part of the song that I'm going to be singing. What's your?
Speaker 2:favorite song to sing. This time I'm going to sing a merengue. Okay, so I love salsa merengue song.
Speaker 1:I love it, but what about some of the American culture songs?
Speaker 2:You know I never tried yet, but that's an idea. You know I love it. That's an idea. Yeah, you should do that. You should do both. Yeah, I should do both. I speak English, so why not singing in English, right?
Speaker 1:You do, and you do that better than I do it. Thank you and I got to do this every day, Then again it's practice, practice, practice. See All right, fanny Villarreal, thank you so much for joining us today. It is the Inner Harbor Connection. We'd love to see you out there. This weekend it's Clinton Square. It gets underway at noon. On Saturday it is the Syracuse Latino festival. They've got big name entertainment from their home countries. Yeah, which is cool. They're coming to town, so I want to see y'all there. Thank you for watching y'all.
Speaker 2:Thank you you.
