Festival showcases Cuban and Latin culture in Tampa
Cuban heritage was celebrated in Tampa with a commemorative festival over the weekend.
The Sabor Cubano Fest brought people together to enjoy Cuban food, music, mojitos, art and cigars.
Yisenia Abrahantes, one of the event’s organizers, said the Sabor Cubano Fest was created this year to celebrate Tampa’s rich history of Cuban heritage.
Tampa’s history is deeply intertwined with Cuba, particularly due to the cigar industry.
The influx of Cuban immigrants who came to work in factories made Tampa’s Ybor City known as the Cigar Capital of the World.
Abrahantes said that legacy still echoes through the region today and inspired the creation of the festival.
“A lot of the bricks here were laid by Cubans, and we needed a festival that highlighted and celebrated our culture, so this is it,” she said.
But Abrahantes said the event wasn’t restricted to Cubans, as it highlighted Latin culture in general.
Many people enjoy Cuban culture without being from that country, Abrahantes said.
“The more you taste and experience something, the wider the horizons in your mind become,” she said.
Abrahantes said now, more than ever, the Latin community needs to support each other.
“Cubans have been in survival mode for a long time,” she said. “I think we put our culture on the back burner, and it’s time to put that forward so we don’t lose our traditions, our food, and flavor.”
With authentic Cuban cuisine and an exclusive selection of some of the best Cuban cigars in the city, the event perfectly captured the essence of the Cuban community.
Florimar Galdón, another organizer, said the festival’s goal was to bring “a little piece” of Cuba to Tampa.
“People can go back to those times when they were in Cuba and they enjoyed the music, the environment, and the food, so bringing back good memories,” Galdón said.
But the event wasn’t just about celebration — it was an opportunity to network, too.
Galdón said many Latino business owners went to the festival to showcase their projects and businesses.
“The purpose is to showcase the different cultures, which becomes the rhythm, the dance and the flavors,” she said.
Like other events inspired by different Latin cultures, the Sabor Cubano Fest showcased the richness of these cultures in the United States.
In doing so, it celebrated the deep diversity that makes Florida one of the biggest and most diverse cultural melting pots in the world.
Credits:
- Anchor: Abigail Saxe
- Producer: Carter Timmons
- Camera: Tatyana Purifoy
- Audio: Karli Kibbee
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