Before the Puerto Rican Festival of Wisconsin even opened Sept. 12, a heavenly aroma hung over the Summerfest grounds as food vendors fired up their smokers and grills to prepare for the day.
They roasted plantains, or plátanos maduros, grilled kebobs called pinchos, and put the finishing touches on huge pans of arroz con gandules — Puerto Rican rice with pigeon peas.
Food was on everyone's minds, including that of 10-year-old Alela and her cousin who were rollerskating through the festival grounds. She said pastelillos, similar to empanadas, are her favorite Puerto Rican food.
"There's many kind of pastelillos, but my favorite is the pizza one," she explained. "It has like cheese, and pepperoni. My mom makes it with a lot of [different] stuff in it.”
Later, Luz Vasquez walked by with her wife and their two grandsons, Mario and Josiah. Mario, who is 4 years old, said his favorite part of the festival was the wealth of Puerto Rican flags waving in the wind.
Differing shades of the signature red and white stripe flag with its blue triangle and singular star design are everywhere. It’s painted on women's fingernails, is plastered on t-shirts and waving in the air in the hundreds of vendor booths.
Mario’s grandmother, Luz, couldn't get enough.
“We are so proud to be Puerto Ricans," she explained. "We got to have this more out here. And for my grandkids, my next generation, I will say keep it up, keep this culture alive.”
Dealing with Midwest culture shock and connecting to your roots
Nearby, Maria Langhorst and her mother, also named Maria, were taking in the Summerfest grounds. She was visiting Milwaukee from Minnesota, and her mother joined the trip from Orlando.
“I am 100,000-million percent proud to be Puerto Rican," she explained, pointing to the word Boricua proudly written in cursive across her shirt — it's a casual term Puerto Ricans to describe themselves.
But Langhorst said it hasn't always been easy to be proud of her heritage. She grew up on the island and spent most of her life in Florida before moving to Minnesota.
"Growing up in either Puerto Rico or Florida, there's a lot of Puerto Ricans. There's a lot of Spanish. When we recently moved to Minnesota, it's a big culture shock for me because there's nothing there," she said of a Puerto Rican community.
The elder Maria chimed in to add in Spanish that what her daughter is experiencing makes it all the more important to pass on Puerto Rican traditions to her grandchildren.
Maria, who is 79, said that she passes on traditions to her grandson by making traditional Puerto Rican foods like arroz con gandules and fried cod fritters, or bacalaítos.
From Puerto Rico to Milwaukee: How history connects us
Also on the festival grounds was a museum dedicated to the Puerto Rican community here in Milwaukee.
Ana Santiago was working inside the space, connecting Puerto Rican women through her organization, the National Conference of Puerto Rican Women. Santiago was a teacher for 40 years of her career, half of which she spent in Puerto Rico and the other half in Milwaukee Public Schools.
She said coming to festivals like this one is crucial for the next generation.
“What I used to tell my students was to never forget where you come from or your parents come from, try to keep up the culture because that's the only thing — that if it dies, it dies. Like there is no turning back," she said.
Puerto Rico is dealing with rolling electrical blackouts and water shortages caused by outdated infrastructure and chronic mismanagement.
Santiago said it’s important for Puerto Ricans living far from the island to know the realities faced by the people who stayed.
“If you have the opportunity to go visit the island, see, feel, you know, like the Puerto Rican people over there, it's different," she said. "If you do that, you will never forget your island and you will go and try to be your best and give out the best for the island."
"Over here, even though we're on this side of the island, we can help a lot," Santiago said.
