By La Voz Staff
In the fiercely beating heart of Chicago’s Humboldt Park—the historic epicenter of the city’s Puerto Rican diaspora—the Fourth of July took on a distinctly revolutionary tone this year. It was defined by the spirit of the Jolgorio Boricua. Traditionally a lively, festive gathering filled with music, dancing, and food, the Jolgorio Boricua is, at its core, an act of cultural preservation. Here, the community joy weaponized joy against assimilation; celebrating unapologetically, feasting, and dancing in community is a profound form of resistance.
Rather than engaging in passive, performative demonstrations or even standard “alternative” celebrations, the National Boricua Human Rights Network, MiJente, The Puerto Rican Cultural Center, and Alderperson Jessie Fuentes (26th Ward) transformed the Humboldt Park Boathouse into a nexus of this joyous resistance by hosting its “JOLGORIO BORICUA: No Kings, No Colonies-Free Puerto Rico” event. Over 500 people attended the event.
It was a day when art, education, community, and activism seamlessly merged to demand decolonization. They were joined by an Invitation Committee consisting of Puerto Rican and Latino/a elected officials, including Fmr. Cong. Luis V. Gutiérrez, Congresswoman Delia Ramírez, Rep. Lilian Jiménez, Ald. Rossana Rodríguez, Sen. Omar Aquino, Sen. Adam Gomez (MA), Lorain, OH City Councilman Angel Arroyo, FL Rep. Johana López, MN Rep. María Isa Pérez-Vega, Fmr. NY City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, St. Louis City Council member Daniela Velázquez, and endorsed by the National Puerto Rican Agenda (NPRA), Chicago Puerto Rican Agenda, Power 4 Puerto Rico (PWR4PR), and Boricuas Unidos en la Diaspora (BUDPR).
A Culinary Welcoming: Sustenance as Survival
Food is memory, and preserving culinary traditions is a vital front in the fight against cultural erasure. Welcoming community residents, young and old, as they entered the Humboldt Park Boathouse was the mouth-watering smell and taste of roast Lechón, prepared on a spit for the occasion by Osmar Rodríguez of Luquillo Barber Shop. This communal sharing of food set the tone for the day—nourishing the body to sustain the movement. Needless to say, the lechón was gone by the late afternoon.
A Cultural Tapestry Unfolds: Reclaiming the Narrative
Guided by the sharp and dynamic MC Melissa DuPrey (@boomboomduprey), the programming flowed with an intentional rhythm. José E. López, Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (IG: @prcc_chgo), and Alderperson Jessie Fuentes (@26thwardchicago) began the morning by taking the stage to welcome attendees and to bridge the community’s enduring cultural legacy with contemporary local and national struggles.
The ancestral rhythms of resistance soon echoed across the park as Colectivo Sayba (@colectivosayba) electrified the crowd with traditional Bomba. Historically, a tool of communication and rebellion for enslaved ancestors, the drumming paved the way for the evocative poetry of Luis Tubens (@loganlupoetry), titled “We Loud.” As midday settled in, the event transitioned into interactive community workshops organized by Eduardo Arocho of Paseo Boricua Tours. Attendees found themselves immersed in salsa footwork with Marialuisa (@marialuisadance), exploring the arts with the Urban Theater Company (@urbantheater), and discussing historical memory and preservation with Digitizing the Barrio (@digitizingthebarrio).
Surrounding the main stage, the community’s vibrant small business ecosystem was on full display, showcasing economic solidarity as a pillar of the jolgorio. Vendors and partners included Smash Jibarito (@smash_jibarito), Brenda Torres Figueroa (@elschomburg, @colectivosayba), Somosarte (@somosartechicago), Chucherias (@chucheriastropicalcreations), Reinas Cakes (@reinascakes), La Bomba (@labomba_chicago), Maldo Latin Grill (@maldolatingrill), La Sandwichera (@lasandwicheracafe), La Vuelta Theatre Lab (@lavueltatheatrelab), and Encanto Taino (@encanto_taino). DJ Jo-Z (@djjozchi) kept the festival grounds alive, complementing the fiercely competitive and popular Domino Tournament hosted by PeERRE Domino Club (@prdominoclub).
The Floating Museum (@thefloatingmuseum) provided a creative and international bridge to the event by displaying “Dignidad”—nearly seven-foot-tall, bright concrete letters spelling the Spanish word for ‘dignity,’ mounted on a traveling flatbed truck. This mobile public sculpture by Colombian artist Iván Argote, in collaboration with the Floating Museum and curator Carla Acevedo-Yates, honors Puerto Rican and Latino/a communities, symbolizing resilience, transcultural solidarity, and the fundamental right to dignity.
The Rhythms of Rebellion: An Afternoon Showcase
The afternoon’s cultural showcase kept the momentum engaged and building, weaving art and education into the fabric of the celebration:
- Cristian Roldán (@roldan.aponte) enthralled everyone with a 5-foot painting of the “No Kings” slogan styled like a giant playing card, inviting booth visitors to take up a brush and paint their own strokes of resistance.
- Amajen (@amajenanzaldua) delivered a soulful vocal performance.
- Author Marisel Vera (@writingbee2) poignantly read an excerpt from her forthcoming book, “The Girls of Humboldt Park.”
- La Escuelita (@laescuelitabdc) brought the hypnotic beats of Bomba back to the forefront.
- Urban Pilon (@urbanpilon) hosted a delicious and vibrant culinary workshop, celebrating the ingredients that connect the diaspora to the island, complemented by local sounds from Pepe & Corillos de Humboldt Park.
Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (@deliaramirezil) began the evening session by reaffirming her commitment to Puerto Rico’s self-determination and addressing the critical intersection of national policy and local grassroots advocacy.
Laying the Groundwork for the Future: Juan Dalmau’s Call to Action
As evening approached, the energy spiked with spoken word from Mayda Del Valle (@maydadelvalle) and a fiery hip-hop set by Pinqy Ring (@pinqy.ring). Yet, as the omnipresent threat of rain finally materialized, the political climax of the evening belonged to the principal speaker, Puerto Rican Independence Party Secretary General Juan Dalmau (@juandalmaupr).
Against the backdrop of the United States’ celebration of its independence, Dalmau pointedly highlighted the hypocrisy of Puerto Rico’s current status.
“Of those 250 years of US independence, 128 years Puerto Rico has been an anti-democratic colony of the United States,”
Dalmau declared to the impassioned crowd. “A country cannot celebrate democracy and independence while denying it to other people.”
He grounded the political struggle in the material realities facing the diaspora and the island, noting that the fight for universal healthcare and accessible education ‘would be insufficient if it were not also a project of decolonization, of democratic demand, of freedom for Puerto Rico.’ To close his address, Dalmau invoked the revolutionary spirit of Ramón Emeterio Betances, the prominent Puerto Rican independence leader and abolitionist:
“Our enemies are not so big; what happens is that we are on our knees. Let us stand up.”
Following this thunderous call to action, the event concluded with a high-energy performance by Siete Nueve (@sietenueve). As the music faded over the lagoon, the message remained clear: Humboldt Park did not just passively observe a holiday. It threw a monumental Jolgorio Boricua—it organized, it danced, it feasted, it remembered, and, through its vibrant culture, it demanded a future in which Puerto Rico is finally free.
View all the “Join us at the Jolgorio Boricua” Videos here.
Photographs for this story by: Becky Medina, Jessie Fuentes, Laura Ruth Johnson, Marisel Vera, Melissa DuPrey, Omar Torres Kortright
