This year’s Latin America Thrives fair celebrates 60 small businesses

With two weeks left in Hispanic American Heritage month, there’s still plenty of time to celebrate Philadelphia’s Hispanic and Latin American communities. Enter Latin America Thrives, a fair and cultural market place returning to Center City for its second edition today. From noon to 5 p.m., Love Park will fly Latino flags of all color and host vendors dishing out international cuisine, as traditional dances take over the plaza and Latinos from different backgrounds getting together to celebrate their roots.

The initiative was created in 2021 by community group Alianza Latina in partnership with Councilmember David Oh’s office. Despite the city’s Latino population growing by 27% in the last decade, this was the first event of its kind in Philly. What started as a way to support Latino businesses, which had been hard hit by the pandemic, led to Oct. 1 being recognized by City Council as Latino American Entrepreneurs Day.

Celebrate Hispanic American Heritage month with the city’s Latin community and support small local businesses — here is what to expect at the 2022 Latin America Thrives in Philadelphia:

The fair will be held on Sept. 30, 2022, at Love Park. You can check out the vendors or enjoy the artistic performances between noon to 5 p.m.

This is a free event. Folks are welcome to walk around and check out the musical performances without cost. But, how much you spend will depend on what you purchase or consume.

This season brings three family-owned local Latino restaurants representing Colombian, Mexican, and Peruvian cuisine:

You can expect to pay between $5 to $15 per plate. And there will also be vendors at the fair’s market selling traditional sweet and savory snacks depending on the country.

Peruvian group Songo will kick off the performances at 12:30 p.m., playing Andean instruments called kena, zampona, and charango. From there, every thirty minutes a new performance will take the stage.

If you are looking to learn more about Mexico’s traditional clothing head to the stage at 1 p.m. The Centro Cultural Mexicano, the Consulate, and Mexicanos in Philadelphia will display a variety of cultural garments, along with their meanings. This show is followed by Cuban-Venezuelan violinist and singer Manuela Romero González performing her first original single “De la luna aquí.”

After 2 p.m., local artists Diego Calderon “The Heartbreaker of Vallenato and Cumbia,” rapper UDINI La Voz, and Grupo Opción, a merengue and bachate band, will set the tone for folks wishing to dance.

This year’s festival doubled the amount of vendors to 60. Designers, artisans, Latin organizations, and small businesses representing Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela will all be on hand showing off their wares.

Among the vendors are Colombian designer Salomé Sosmiqué, Mexican fashion designer Julieta Zavala, Salvadorean jewelry designer Leticia Bisutería, Panamanian photographer Alba Juliao, and Dominican artist Isaías Amaro.

Organizations like Taller Puertoriqueño will also be present, and the crew from the Puerto Rican film La Guagua 47. The Venezuelan soccer team from the Philadelphia International Unity Cup will also be giving out FIFA2026 albums.