Carnaval in Miami:
Celebrations in La Milla y Calle Ocho
Miami is visited by around 12 million tourists per year, who travel to
Florida to enjoy its wonderful climate, white sand beaches, and giant shopping centers. Many others simply pass through the city in their
rental cars on the way to
Disneyland Resorts and
Universal Studios. However not many know what
Miami’s Carnaval is world renowned and has gained international prestige for its originality and for its social and cultural importance.
Carnaval is an event celebrated every year in Miami with almost a million attendees, whose high point is March 15 when the multitudes have followed the spectacular celebration to Little Havana for 37 years. Here along the 23 blocks of the famous Calle Ocho lives the most famous latin party of the United States. A true family celebration offering food, dance, drinks, musical shows and live entertainment.
The event brings together 200 bands, folklore shows, traditional foods, beauty pageants, fashion shows, percussion groups, fireworks, and even a tournament for elderly people that offers cash prizes.
The
Carnaval of Calle Ocho has been the scene of many world records including Guinness rec-ords, like when almost 120,000 people united in 1988 to form the longest conga line in the world, or in 1990 when they erected an 8 meter piñata weighing 4.5 tons, or in 2000 when they lit the biggest cigar in the world, or in 2008 when they had the largest gathering of domino players in one place.
In the 2014 celebration thousands of people danced to a live show of Daddy Yankee and other artists like Farruco, Timbalive, Lucenzo y Carlos Manuel. They also inaugurated a sculpture, “The Queen of Salsa”, for Celia Cruz in the Domino Park.
This year public was delighted by the performances of Daddy Yankee, Alexis and Fido, Elvis Crespo, Fito Blanco, Farruko, Leslie Grace, DLG, Sean Paul, Chino and Nacho, Illegales, and others including other groups from Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Mexico.
On March 7 and 8 Carnaval manifests itself in
La Milla of
Coral Gables. More than 30 musical groups performing jazz, latin funk, and caribbean rhythms come together for a unique cultural and artistic experience the week before the festivities in Calle Ocho. The upcoming edition of
Carnaval de la Milla will showcase Ozomatli from Los Angeles, Tiempo Libre, Shamarr Allen and the Under-dawgs, Rojo Baraat from New York, Suénalo, and Locos por Juana among others. There will also be paintings, crafts, jewelry, photography, sculpture, and traditional foods.
Those who will be in Miami or Orlando at this time, who are visiting Disney Parks or Universal by rental car must not miss the opportunity to visit the Carnaval of Miami, not only for the quality of it’s ar-tists, and the unforgettable experience of dancing in the streets at this unique event, but also be-cause the festivities of La Milla and of Calle Ocho have over the years become a symbol of Latin identity in the United States.
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