By Bianca Betancourt, CNN. Photographs by David Dee Delgado for CNN.<\/p>\n
(CNN) \u2014 For a mile-long stretch of Bushwick, Brooklyn, a sea of red, white and blue floods the streets. One corner boasts a DIY speaker setup blasting old-school reggaeton courtesy of Tego Calder\u00f3n and Plan B, another plays throwback salsa from H\u00e9ctor Lavoe and El Gran Combo. Booming horns pulse through the air; vendors pour \u201cpiragua\u201d snow cones and serve watermelon and coconut ice cream to those looking to cool down; and elders kick back in personal lawn chairs taking in the festivities, which include surprise appearances from Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Knicks star (and newly crowned NBA champion) Jose Alvarado.<\/p>\n
Despite the heat and humidity, a palpable sense of pride ripples through the crowd. This is, after all, what fuels New York City\u2019s Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend, year after year.<\/p>\n
The nation partied a lot this weekend \u2013 revealing strikingly different stories of America during its 250th summer. Some 200 miles away, there was another kind of red, white and blue blur on the White House lawn as UFC fighters traded blows<\/a> in an ostentatious display of masculinity as part of official semiquincentennial events and President Donald Trump\u2019s 80th birthday. Meanwhile, the US announced itself on the international sporting stage, co-hosting the World Cup and kicking off with a blistering 4-1 win over Paraguay<\/a> on Friday. Back in New York City, the euphoria of the Knicks\u2019 Saturday night NBA triumph<\/a> bled into Sunday\u2019s Puerto Rican parade, transforming the multicultural gathering into a kind of victory rally.<\/p>\n The Bushwick event coincides with a long-running parade that has seen Puerto Rican New Yorkers (or \u201cNuyoricans\u201d) take to Manhattan\u2019s streets every second Sunday in June since 1958. Now attracting millions of participants and spectators, it is a communal ritual that has become deeply embedded in the city\u2019s Puerto Rican communities.<\/p>\n Originally held in Spanish Harlem, the main parade migrated to its current route down Midtown\u2019s Fifth Avenue in its second year. Today, however, celebrations stretch across the city, with dance parties, festivals and community activities taking place across the Lower East Side, Brooklyn\u2019s Sunset Park and Bushwick.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019re more Puerto Ricans in the US than there are on the island right now. Now that I\u2019ve been here in the city for 13 years, there\u2019s a lot of longing to be back home,\u201d says Monica Santos Gil<\/a>, the founder of New York-based handbag brand Santos by Monica and a passionate festival-goer. \u201cFor those who maybe feel less connected to the culture of the island, the parade is such an incredible opportunity for Puerto Ricans to come together, celebrate that connection and feel close to home.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a sentiment shared by Edwin Reyes<\/a>, a Bronx-based fashion designer.<\/p>\n \u201cGrowing up in New York, my form of the Puerto Rican diaspora is very different from others\u2019,\u201d Reyes says. \u201cBecause I have the culture of being Puerto Rican, but also New York culture, going to the Puerto Rican parade is such an incredible moment of bringing those two landscapes together. It\u2019s a yearly reminder that says, \u2018OK these are my people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n While the Manhattan parade attracts families, tourists and a bevy of corporate sponsors, in Bushwick a younger \u2014 and slightly more raucous crowd cheer, sing and dance their way to the edge of Maria Hernandez Park. The Bushwick event also serves as a lively display of Puerto Rican fashion \u2014 a style that, according to Santos Gil, can be hard to define.<\/p>\n \u201cAmericans tend to wear their Puerto Rican pride very noticeably \u2014 you see the flags and symbols, from their clothes to even their cars, and it goes back to that longing and connection to being part of the island,\u201d she says. \u201dOn the island, it\u2019s a little bit more laid back. There\u2019s a relationship to color, the climate that surrounds you when you\u2019re there, and nature, so people use lighter fabrics,\u201d adds Santos Gil. \u201cWhereas here, you\u2019re absorbing the energy of a city \u2014 it\u2019s a bit bolder and more urban.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the event\u2019s stylish revellers incorporate vintage graphic tees featuring legendary salseros, cornflower blue basketball shorts, special-edition Nike sneakers, and Puerto Rican flags reimagined into any and every garment or accessory imaginable (Earrings! Crop tops! Headbands!).<\/p>\n Puerto Rican iconography has become an essential part of Nuyorican fashion.<\/p>\n For each year\u2019s celebrations, Reyes\u2019 namesake label designs a look that embraces symbols stemming from the island, like 2025\u2019s statement-making, red, white and blue ruffled organza maxi skirt.<\/a> This year\u2019s design is a soft, baby blue gown<\/a> \u2014 paying homage to the color of the island\u2019s original 1895 flag\u2014 embroidered with subtle motifs, including yellow taxi cabs, the Brooklyn bridge and the Puerto Rico\u2019s national flower, the flor de maga.<\/p>\n In a year that saw Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny became the first artist to perform a Super Bowl half-time show entirely in Spanish, there are arguably more eyes on the island and its cultural output than ever before.<\/p>\n \u201cThis feels obvious, but Puerto Rican culture is having a real moment globally,\u201d says Santos Gil. \u201cPeople are becoming more interested in the stories, history and culture of Puerto Ricans in general. It\u2019s not just us celebrating our culture, even though we do have a culture unlike any other. All of my friends who are not Puerto Rican are always so impressed. They\u2019re like, \u2018Wow, I love the way you guys party and celebrate. It\u2019s so unique.\u2019 And it really is.\u201d<\/p>\n The-CNN-Wire
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