{"id":43150,"date":"2025-11-24T13:24:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T13:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/43150\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T13:24:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T13:24:05","slug":"a-celebration-of-latin-culture-returns-to-allentown-with-music-and-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/43150\/","title":{"rendered":"A celebration of Latin culture returns to Allentown, with music and food"},"content":{"rendered":"

A celebration of Hispanic culture, music, food and the holiday season is returning to Miller Symphony Hall.<\/p>\n

The hall will host its second annual Latin Parranda<\/a> on Saturday. Last year\u2019s Puerto Rican holiday party sold out, and limited tickets are available for the earlier of two celebrations planned this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome expecting a great time,\u201d said Hector Rodriguez Jr., leader of the band Clave Legacy<\/a>, which will once again perform at the parranda. \u201cEnjoy some Spanish food, Spanish music and Spanish heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

A parranda is a Puerto Rican Christmas tradition, where families travel from house to house to sing and celebrate.<\/p>\n

For Miller Symphony Hall, home to the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, it\u2019s also an opportunity to both celebrate Hispanic culture and reach out to the community surrounding the historic theater.<\/p>\n

\"Hector<\/p>\n

Hector Rodriquez and band perform during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Jayden<\/p>\n

Jayden Torres of Allentown wears a pava jibara and plays the guiro during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Velez of Allentown plays the padeiro during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Pierre<\/p>\n

Pierre Baston and Malgorzata Rockiki of Macungie dance a tango during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Amigos<\/p>\n

Amigos Mexican Grill served tacos during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People dance during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Pierre<\/p>\n

Pierre Baston and Malgorzata Rockiki of Macungie dance a tango during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Emcee<\/p>\n

Emcee Maryanell Agosto of Whitehall addresses the crowd during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Velez of Allentown plays the padeiro during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People enjoying the dancing during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Pierre<\/p>\n

Pierre Baston and Malgorzata Rockiki of Macungie dance a tango during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People dance during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Maria<\/p>\n

Maria Garcia of La Cocina Del Abuelo serves dinner during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Pierre<\/p>\n

Pierre Baston and Malgorzata Rockiki of Macungie dance a tango during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People dance during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Maria<\/p>\n

Maria Garcia of La Cocina Del Abuelo serves dinner during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People dance during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 17<\/p>\n

Hector Rodriquez and band perform during the Parranda, a Puerto Rican holiday celebration, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea was really to make people from Latin cultures feel comfortable here, and feel like this is a place they could fit in and enjoy other types of music or whatever programming we have,\u201d said marketing director Lori Beneyton. \u201cIn the beginning, they were saying, \u2018This isn\u2019t a place for us. We\u2019re not comfortable here.\u2019 We\u2019re right next to a heavily Puerto Rican neighborhood here.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024, Allentown Symphony Orchestra Conductor and Music Director Diane Wittry created the Latin Leadership Committee, inviting community members to brainstorm ideas on how to increase engagement in a community that\u2019s nearly 60% Hispanic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s super exciting,\u201d said Rodriguez, a member of the committee. \u201cIt opens up a lot of opportunity to share our culture with the community. There\u2019s many different cultures and communities out there that we haven\u2019t explored yet. To be part of a community is just a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s inaugural parranda was a huge success, selling out largely through word of mouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big success because we listened,\u201d Beneyton said. \u201cWe really engaged with each other and really worked together to do it. That\u2019s why we succeeded with it. It really represented the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, there are two sittings, at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.; the later event has sold out but tickets remain available for the family-friendly afternoon event.<\/p>\n

Both sittings will include Latin music from Clave Legacy, food from Grandpa\u2019s Kitchen\/La Cocina del Abuelo and El Tipico, and dancing. The afternoon event will include pi\u00f1atas, and the evening will feature a coquito contest to determine who makes the best holiday drink.<\/p>\n

Greenburg Lemus, owner of Grandpa\u2019s Kitchen\/La Cocina del Abuelo, said there\u2019s something for everyone to enjoy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our culture. It\u2019s what we do in our countries,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make sure everybody enjoys every single culture. There are are different people who come from everywhere \u2014 Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic \u2014 everywhere. It\u2019s very important for the community to come and enjoy this.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you go<\/p>\n

The Latin Parranda will be held at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29, at Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. Sixth St. in Allentown. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children ages 12 and under.\u00a0 Order online at https:\/\/millersymphonyhall.org\/event\/latin-parranda\/<\/a> or call the box office at 610-432-6715.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A celebration of Hispanic culture, music, food and the holiday season is returning to Miller Symphony Hall. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[119,153,155,154,433,182,28,289,432],"class_list":{"0":"post-43150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-bethlehem","10":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","11":"tag-bethlehem-news","12":"tag-lehigh-county","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-pennsylvania","15":"tag-things-to-do","16":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}