By Gabrielle Prusak
The Queens Botanical Garden will bring the Festival de las Flores to life Sunday while celebrating the Summer Solstice..
The Festival of the Flowers is a traditional Colombian celebration now in its fifth year in New York City.
“We’re delighted to have the festival here and we want everyone to come and see what they have created with the flowers, enjoy the garden, hear some great music and learn a little bit more about Colombian culture,” said Darcy Hector, director of marketing and development at the garden.
The celebration commemorates the time when the silletero (porter who carries sedan chairs) slaves in Colombia had to carry men, women and other cargo on their backs up steep hills.
When slavery ended, they carried flowers instead to celebrate the freedom and beauty. Today, people mark the history with elaborate floral displays (silletos) and festive performances.
At the festival there will be a couple of silletos and a floral tapestry on display in the garden as well.
During the celebration there will be craft and food vendors, Spanish folklore tales, bilingual story time, old-fashioned children’s games, crafts and activities, a petting zoo and more.
There will also be musical performances from Grupo Rebolu and Boca. “Grupo Rebolu” in Spanish means “crazy party,” which is like the sound of their music. They are a Colombian singing band that has a danceable sound. The entire group has a Colombian background and is on its second CD, “Next Stop.”
The band was formed by percussionist Maurice Cañate and singer Ronald Polo, who have always wanted to create a group and were finally able to do it when they came to the United States.
The other band, Boca, got its start when band members Jacquelyn Acosta, Vitally Stolyarchuk, Adam Bauch and Wilson Riano met at Queensborough Community College.
The band is indie/jazz/Latin fusion and they are coming out with their first EP at the end of the week with their first full album by the end of the summer.
“We’re all from different backgrounds. I came from R&B/soul, he [Stolyarchuk] came from indie and Adam came from a jazz background,” Acosta said.
Rebolu will be performing first at 2 p.m. and Boca will follow right after.
“The best thing about the Festival de las Flores [is that it] brings in Colombian culture, but it also is a symbol and a sign of the borough of Queens,” said Borough President Melinda Katz. “The borough of Queens has over 160 languages spoken, each with their own celebrations and culture and tradition and religions — and the Botanical Garden has been enormous in making sure that each of those cultures are brought into the garden, that we are teaching each cultures’ children about the other ones that they are sitting next to in school.”
Entry to the festival is free for QBG members, $4 for adults, $3 for seniors and $2 for students and children.
