Celebrating Hispanic culture at the 26th Annual Albany Latin Fest

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — For 26 years, organizers at the Albany Latin Festival have been sharing Hispanic culture in Downtown Albany.

“The culture, the atmosphere, the music, the food. The friendliness of the crowd,” Pete Vigo said.

Vigo has been attending the festival from the beginning, and he says it’s hard to pick a favorite dish from the food selection.

“Whatever I see on the menu looks great to me,” he said.

For his daughter, Dawn Vigo, this is her third year attending, and she says she loves coming back to celebrate her family’s Latin American heritage.

“I love the food. The food is great. The people are great. Everybody’s great,” she said.

This year, Pedro Diaz co-founded Albany Latin Fest and said organizers also wanted to focus on Afro-Latino roots.

“There’s a resurgence and appreciation for Afro-Latino roots,” Diaz said. “And we have a group of women who are excellent. And they will represent the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.”

But while some organizations have been able to recover post-pandemic. Organizers of the festival say they are still struggling.

“Things haven’t been better these last couple of years,” Diaz said. “We’ve had some setbacks, and primarily, we have been rebuilding our board.”

They are also in need of volunteers with marketing and admin experience.

“So people who have these skills and wanna help out in these areas are welcome to contact us,” he said.

Those interested in volunteering can learn more on their website. For those wishing to continue the celebration, National Hispanic Heritage Month will kick off from September 15 through October 15.