BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Almost 10,000 people plan to celebrate the 23rd annual U.T.B. Educational and Cultural Florida’s Puerto Rican Day Parade in Brevard County this weekend, the oldest Puerto Rican parade in Central Florida.
- Puerto Rican Day Parade happening on November 3
- It's the oldest Puerto Rican parade in Central Florida
- Sam Lopez said it started after his kids faced discrimination
Sam Lopez, Florida Puerto Rican Hispanic Chamber of Commerce president, said the parade began after his children faced discrimination at school.
“My kids were going to school right next to the house,” he said. “They came home with a picture of blacks and Hispanics being hung.”
Lopez said it was the same prejudice he faced before in New York City.
“We dealt with that where we even had a motion picture being done, which was the Westside Story, on what happened when Puerto Ricans first got here,” Lopez said.
Lopez said to counter hate, he spoke with the school district to organize a parade.
“We’d like to start a Puerto Rican Day Parade, and maybe we can get these kids from the schools to participate, and maybe we can work towards diversity with that,” Lopez said.
He said now people turn out every year to celebrate their Boricua culture.
“The beautiful thing is to see these kids in the school system dressing up, singing Puerto Rican songs,” Lopez said.
The parade officially kicks off with a gala and award ceremony on Friday at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites located at 301 Tucker Lane, followed by a ribbon cutting and tour of the Juan Ponce de Leon landing site, where the statue is located in Melbourne Beach, and the parade on Sunday.
The parade begins at 2 p.m. on Eldron Blvd heading west on Malabar Road in Palm Bay and ends at Palm Bay City Hall.