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Clearwater festival attracts big names

The city's first Hispanic Heritage Festival is a daylong celebration featuring some of the hottest stars in Latin music.

By JOSE CARDENAS
Published October 1, 2005

CLEARWATER - Clearwater has long been known for live entertainment like its signature Jazz Holiday and the annual WiLDSplash hip-hop concert, appealing to widely divergent musical tastes.

Now the city is broadening its musical offerings beyond those borders. For the first time, the city is marking Hispanic Heritage Month with a daylong festival today at Coachman Park featuring nationally renowned Hispanic entertainers.

Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated by other cities and organizations around the country, and people in Clearwater's Hispanic community have sought a Hispanic-oriented event here.

"As we've diversified ... we've talked about this for a couple of years," said city auditor Robin Gomez, who is involved in Hispanic issues.

The city expects 5,000 to 8,000 people to attend from throughout Tampa Bay, because the lineup of entertainers includes some with wide name recognition.

The performers are Tejano singer Jennifer Pena, Puerto Rican rapper Ivy Queen, Dominican salsa singer Jose Alberto, alternative rocker JD Natasha and the pop group C-Note.

The roster of performers is a coup for Clearwater, said Carlos Jose Peralta, the music director at La Nueva (92.5 FM) in Tampa. Aside from C-Note, an up-and-coming urban pop group, he said the rest are among the hottest names in the various Latin music genres.

"JD Natasha has been nominated for three Latin Grammys this year," Peralta said. "Jennifer Pena is really big in the regional Mexican field. ... Jose Alberto is the hottest salsa artist there is."

Peralta called Ivy Queen "the Reggaeton queen right now" and noted that the weekend's festival will be her first visit to the Tampa Bay area. "She'll have a big crowd. She's all over the television shows."

President Gerald Ford proclaimed the first Hispanic Heritage Month in 1975. Today, it's roughly a two-month period starting in mid September in which Hispanic organizations hold cultural events, lectures and fairs that often touch on serious issues affecting Hispanics, such as their hig h rate of HIV infections.

With its first event, Clearwater recognizes that the Hispanic population has grown, particularly in the last decade, said Kevin Dunbar, director of parks and recreation. Hispanics account for about 9 percent of the populatio n in Clearwater, according to the U.S. census.

"The demographics of Clearwater have changed, and therefore we should diversify what we offer" at the concert venue, Dunbar said.

Today's event has additional significance for the city: It's the first new performance at Coachman in three years.

While the new Clearwater Memorial Causeway was under construction, the city had placed a moratorium on new festivals at the park because they would have required closing down the extension to the old drawbridge.

During that period, the city only held the Clearwater Jazz Holiday and a half-dozen other traditional events like the Fourth of July program.

That changed at the end of last month when the Clearwater Memorial Causeway opened, Dunbar said.

Another new event will be the Florida Orchestra, which will perform a free concert on Sunday at 7 p.m.

The festival will include food and gift vendors, games and booths with information on social services available in the community. Beer and wine will be sold. Doors open at 11 a.m., and the music will start at 1 p.m. Tickets at the door will be $25 for adults, and children younger than 10 will be allowed in for free . Food and alcohol from the outside will not be allowed, but folding chairs will.

[Last modified October 1, 2005, 01:45:17]