Comité Noviembre: A Celebration of Puerto Rican Culture & The Arts

Hostos Community College will once again host Comité Noviembre's Annual Puerto Rican Artisan's Fair & Exhibit, a fun filled cultural experience celebrating the arts and culture of Puerto Rico as part of Puerto Rican Heritage Month. The event will be held this Saturday, November 20th from 11AM to 9PM and will be in the Hostos gymnasium.

Last year's event was a beautiful experience of sight and sound with so many Puerto Rican artisans displaying their creations with the cacophony of live music of traditional Bomba and Plena permeating the air.  Several live performances evoked the traditional jibaro (affectionate term for a hick) life in Puerto Rico which is important to our culture as it was a time of a more self-sustaining culture living off the land - a simpler time compared to today's faced-paced cosmopolitan and metropolitan lifestyles that have invaded the island and are now pretty much the norm.  This year's event promises to be just as exciting and enriching as last year's as well.  This is a great opportunity for art lovers to purchase some beautiful pieces.

Check out our video from last year's event!

For Immediate Release

5th Annual Comité Noviembre Puerto Rican Artisans Fair & Exhibit 

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2010 

Hostos Community College - 450 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 

11AM – 9PM 

The Puerto Rican Artisan Fair & Exhibit was established in 2006, in celebration of Comité Noviembre's, 20th anniversary. Over 40 artesanos puertorriqueños from throughout the US and Puerto Rico participated and the event boasted an attendance of over 5000 people in this very first Fair. Last year's Fair continued to exceed CN's expectations with over 60 artisans participating and a steady 5000 people. 

The artisan fair this Saturday will include the following workshops: 

• Taíno Storytelling by Bobby González 

• Story of the 3 Kings and making of boxes and crowns by Teresa Santiago 

• Wood Working. Making Santos de Palo by Marta Iris Rodriguez 

• Spirituality and Taíno Petroglyph Art by Jose Muñoz 

• Introduction to Puerto Rican Genealogy by Charlie Fourquet 

Performing at the fair: 

• Master percussionist Obanilu Allende and the son of world renowned singer Danny Rivera, Daniel Rivera, Jr. 

For the past four years, CN has transformed, Hunter College West Building and the Church of St. Paul the Apostle into a typical Puerto Rican plaza with a fountain, palm trees, piragua and coquito carts and artists, sculptors, vejigante mask makers promoting and selling their wares while musical and cultural acts entertained throughout the day. This year will be no different at Hostos. CN will also continue to conduct cultural workshops for children and adults, like mask making, the history of the three kings’ celebration, Taíno storytelling in order to make sure that our youth learn about our culture. 

This free fair is an opportunity to kick-off the holiday shopping season by supporting our artesanos. 

For more information visit us online at: ComiteNoviembre.org. If you are on Twitter, follow us @comitenoviembre.

Community Gardens - Oases in Park Starved Melrose

With all the new real estate being developed in Melrose and over 1,400 apartments coming online within the next year or so with developments such as Boricua Village, Courtlandt Corners and St. Ann's Terrace, the area is yearning for more open spaces. As it stands, Melrose has no real park within its borders of its own...a space of green grass and trees, of flowers and benches, unless you count Flynn Playground on Third Avenue at East 157th Street which is nothing but concrete basket ball courts and handball courts. Melrose residents have to go to St. Mary's Park in Mott Haven or Franz Sigel and Joyce Kilmer Parks on the Concourse directly North and South of The Bronx County Courthouse - all outside of Melrose proper.

Thankfully, until this problem is remediated, Melrose has a plethora of community gardens where its residents can escape to for some peace and quiet. Many of these gardens usually have a casita, Spanish for small house, reminiscent of the old, small wooden homes that dotted the mountains and valleys of Puerto Rico. The gardens are a little slice of Puerto Rico here in the urban, concrete jungle of New York, echoing home for so many residents which hail from the island or have roots there.

One such garden is Rambo Garden located on East 159th Street between Melrose and Courtlandt Avenues. Earlier today as I was walking my dog...or she walking me, I had the pleasure of stopping in this garden and check it out for myself. Below are some pictures of the garden. Feel free to drop by anytime and relax whether you live in the area or work in the area...great place to walk to and have your lunch and go back to work.

Thinking outside the commode.

Totem pole of sorts.

Local resident Lillian, enjoying the many toys the garden offers children, free of charge, to play in.

Inside the casita...table's ready for a game of dominoes.

Ceiling and chandelier inside the casita.

Another tricycle available for the children.

Um...Toto, I don't think we're in The Bronx anymore.

Nope! We're definitely not in The Bronx! A scene like this could be anywhere...but yes, it's here in Melrose right in the South Bronx.

A WORKING outdoor shower!

Old trellis and wheelbarrow.

Got wish? Throw in a penny and make your wish!