12th Annual Festival de la Familia This Sunday!

La Casa de Don Pedro, one of Newark’s premier community based social service and community development organizations, and The City of Newark will host the 12th Annual Festival de la Familia (#FestivaldelaFamilia) on Sunday, August 18th.

Held in the Heart of Newark’s Lower Broadway neighborhood, Festival de la Familia celebrates Newark’s vibrant diversity and the strength of community. Due to its enormous success, Project Backpack has returned! This year, up to 500 attending children will have the opportunity to receive a free backpack filled with school supplies. The free festival will take place from 12pm-5pm on Broadway between Bloomfield Place & Broad Street in Newark, NJ.

The day will open with games, crafts, street performances and DJ Cisco leading the show. Musicians and artists will showcase music and dance from regions like Peru, Puerto Rico, West Africa, and Mexico. These include Sabor Boricua, Kamate Traders African Drummers- Yah’ya Kamate, Crespita Entertainment, Swing Combo and more! Newark’s very own Batman [Retired Detective Ortiz] will be making a special appearance as well.

The street will be lined with carnival games, street performers and many other activities. Community Partner organizations from all over the city will join the festivities, including The New Jersey Devils, Barat Foundation, The Newark Public Library, Newark Community Solutions/Newark Youth Court and many others.

Festival de la Familia is made possible by the support of sponsors: Prudential Financial, M&T Bank, PSE&G, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Valley Bank, Horizon NJ Health, Lower Broadway Neighborhood Association, RWJ Barnabas Clara Maass Medical Center, RWJ Barnabas Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Capacity Benefits & Financial Solutions, Rutgers University- Newark, Shoprite of Newark, TD Bank, Amerigroup- An Anthem Company, Latin American Motorcycle Association- Newark, Lotus Equity Group, New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark Downtown District, Popular Bank, Bayshore Family of Companies, Hackensack Meridian Health, KIPP NJ, The Prudential Center and NJ Devils, RyArMo Photography Studio, Stobbs Printing, and UnitedHealthcare.

Backpack donations and supplies have been made possible by La Casa de Don Pedro’s #ProjectBackpack donors: Amerigroup- An Anthem Company, Arcelio Aponte, Bank of America, The Basile Family, Margaret and Richard Cammarieri, Capacity Benefits & Financial Solutions, CKO Kickboxing Newark, Byron Clark, Julio Colon, Rafael Cuello, The Diloné Family, ForRealCeil, LLC, Dawn Gammon, Tony Gibbons, The Gonzalez Family, Gayle Griffin, Harvest Table Newark, Jeremy Johnson, JP Morgan Chase & Co., KIPP NJ, Ollyn Lettman, Evelyn Littles, M&T Bank, Amanda Martinez, Eugene Mazo, The Melendez Family, Ryan Monroe, Eltia Montano-Galarza, North Star Academy, The Ocasio Family, Maria Puglisi, Popular Bank, Robert Rebimbas, Yesenia Rios, Rita Robles, The Roldán Family, Richard Roper, Ivette Rosario, Rutgers School of Nursing, Santander Bank, Joseph Serzan, Peter Swanson, Grizel Ubarry, Valley Bank, Andrew Villanueva.

For further information, visit http://www.lacasanwk.org/festival-de-la-familia-2019/or contact Keishla Gonzalez-Quiles at festival@lacasanwk.org.