Last month I attended the Festival Hispano at the County Park in North Charleston. There was some good music, a capoeira troupe, and what seemed to be some nice authentic food (though not nearly enough of it, which meant three unnavigably lengthy queues in a crowd of about 2,000 people), but unfortunately little else: a cellphone dealer or two, some Sponge-Bob souvenirs, and some generic soda and beer vendors. With respect to the effort involved in the production of the event, it was a little poor.
Where were the living history reenactments?, I thought. Where were the strange couples' party games? Where were the custom car artists with their beautiful Silverado pickups? Where were all the taco trucks?
I do admit that, as an enthusiast of the growing presence of centro- and sudamericana culture within our own, it may have been too easy for me to be disappointed by the event. Folks seemed to be having fun, which I reckon is the point. But the event left me with the thoughts of how we all tend to take many of our most distinctive cultural details for granted.
Not much of a revelation, I know; it's just something to consider. Which aspects of your culture do you think outsiders would find most interesting? Which do you think might be most important to your grandparents? To your children?
Oh, yes. Unfulfilled from our outing, my friend and I stopped in at La Fortuna de Hanahan on the way home for a couple of tacos and a gordita.
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