As 12-year-old Charlisse Gomez opened the Barrio Arts Fest Sunday with a rendition of Bruno Mars’ “Risk It All,” she was thinking of her grandfather, who was a mariachi.
Cheering her on from the crowd was her mother, Ivalisse Gomez, royalty of local Puerto Rican celebrations in her own right — she was crowned queen of the Puerto Rican People’s Day parade in 2000, the year before the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture opened and created the festival.
“We’re blessed to have these flags and this park, and to be able see so many people I’ve known over the years,” said the elder Gomez, who grew up in Puerto Rico and moved with her parents to Humbolt Park when she was about the age her daughter is now. “My food, my culture, my music. … It’s such a joyful time of year for me.”
More than 2,000 people attended the first day of the event, organizers said.
The free festival hosted more than 80 vendors offering everything from artful renditions of coquí frogs to Puerto Rican inspired food such as guava quesitos, which Sachayra Cintron, owner and head baker at Humboldt Park’s own Chucherías Tropical Creations, was serving up.
Cintron — who moved back to Humboldt Park in September 2017 the day before Hurricane Maria hit her home of seven years in Puerto Rico — specializes in “Puerto Rican desserts you don’t really find in Chicago.” Sunday, she was most proud of her bizcocho mojadito, a Puerto Rican sponge cake she spent seven years perfecting from scratch.
She credits her mom, who also works along Division Street as a chef at Mercado del Pueblo, as a “huge inspiration in my life.”
“I get it from my momma,” Cintron, 37, said.
Billy Ocasio, the president and CEO of the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, said the event tried to add more components for kids and families this year.
But at its core, the event is about uplifting Puerto Rican artists.
Following organizers’ decision to bring on artists from the island itself last year, both days were headlined by Puerto Rican rapper PJ Sin Suela known for his collaboration with Bad Bunny on “Cual Es Tu Plan?” who was playing his first shows in Chicago.
“For us, it’s about highlighting our artists so they can make money for the rest of the year,” Ocasio said.
Jorge García Muñiz and his daughter Olivia Garcia, were selling higüeras — the fruit of the calabash tree, which is native to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean — with art carved into the back, a traditional Taíno art style with a long history in the Caribbean. It was the first time either of them had been able to experience Chicago’s Puerto Rican neighborhood.
It was special for García, who had only ever been to Chicago once and never to Humboldt Park. Being steeped in Puerto Rican culture so far from home was special, she said.
“I don’t want to say I never thought this would happen, but I never thought this would happen,” she said. “So to have this opportunity is mindblowing. … There’s actually a big community here which we weren’t expecting.”
Her father has been making bowls, cups and art out of the fruit shells for 46 years, and travels the world collecting other artists’ carved higüeras, especially around the Caribbean.
But the duo said few experiences could compare to waking up this weekend with the nearly 60-foot tall Puerto Rican flags overarching Division Street, which Ocasio helped get installed when he served as 26th Ward Alderperson from 1993 to 2009.
“For me, it’s very important to be here,” García Muñiz said. “It’s the only place like it in the U.S.A.”
Jorge García Muñiz and his daughter Olivia Garcia, sell higüeras with art carved into the back — a traditional Taíno art style with a long history in the Caribbean — during the 26th annual Barrio Arts Fest at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Humboldt Park on the West Side, Sunday, July 12, 2026.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
