Coming up on Sunday, May 27, the Loisaida Festival returns to Avenue C for its 31st year.

The blocks between East 6th Street and 11th Street will be filled with Latin food, entertainment and arts offerings. It all begins at 11 a.m. with a parade on 10th Street, and continues until 5 p.m. This year’s theme is “Bridging Resurgence:”

This year’s Loisaida Festival aims to connect local community-based and led efforts in Loisaida’s recovery and resurgence post-Sandy, to the many grassroots and emergent leader efforts that have taken hold in Puerto Rico that have brought hope to communities and empowered local residents to unite and act on their own behalf. “Bridging Resurgence: From Sandy to Maria,” the 2018 Loisaida Festival theme, is also an urgent reminder of the continuing struggle of those still recovering from Hurricane Maria’s devastation of the Island. The Loisaida Center remains committed to the Island’s recovery as an affirmation of our neighborhood’s Puerto Rican heritage.

On Sunday, four VIVA Loisaida Award honorees will be recognized. They include: Damaris Reyes, executive director of GOLES; Aixa Torres, president of the Alfred E. Smith Houses Tenant Association; The Rivera-Fargas family; and Dr. Manuel Moran, founder & artistic director of the Society of Educational Arts (and founder of Teatro Sea at the Clemente). Luis and Abigail Rivera are the children of the beloved Adela Fargas, owner of Casa Adela. After her death in January, the family vowed to keep the restaurant going.

As part of Sunday’s happenings, the Loisaida Festival Theater Lab will also be back for a third year at La Plaza Cultural Community Garden (9th Street and Avenue C).  It will include the New York premiere of ¡Ay María!, a play that explores the post-Maria reality for an isolated group of neighbors in Puerto Rico.

More details about the Loisaida Festival here.