What started out as a idea to raise money for the Arturo Cambeiro Senior Center eventually turned out to become the first “Latin Food Festival” that was held on Sunday, August 19, 2007, at the Grand Ballroom of the Las Vegas Hilton. The driving forces behind the Latin Food Festival were Mark Maniscalco, the Events Coordinator, and Victoria Napoles, the Executive Vice-President of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, both of who came up with the idea, and along with Otto Merida, President and CEO of the Latin Chamber, saw it through to completion.

Pictured above is one of the beautiful and creative food displays at the 2007 Latin Food Festival.

According to Mark, he and Victoria “visited somewhere between 75 to 100 local Latino restaurants and businesses to get commitments from the food venders and sponsors we had at the event.” Mark also said that their goal is to increase the participation of restaurants at next year’s event.

The Latin Food Festival opened its doors at 11:00 a.m. with Mariachi music other entertainment and the event went on well past the scheduled closing time of 3:00 p.m. In actuality, by 3:00 p.m. the crowd was still growing and the music was in full swing, as evidenced by the large number of people dancing. Afterwards, Mark Maniscalco estimated that about 2,000 people visited the event and partook of the great food and music. He also told me that “all of the restaurants who participated this year said it was a tremendous event and all of them want to participate next year.” My daughter, Alexis-Havana, and I were among the 2,000 people who attended the event and without mentioning specific restaurants, I can tell you that we ate some excellent Cuban and Mexican foods. I particularly enjoyed the roast pork, chicken and rice, Cuban tamales, and Spanish rice. Of course, my daughter and I also sampled at least eight wonderful cakes and deserts that were available from several Latino bakeries.

Given the great success of the first Latino Food Festival, kudos deservedly are extended to the three principal coordinators, Mark Maniscalco, Victoria Napoles, and Otto Merida, and special thanks go out to the fabulous, hard-working chamber staff: Ricardo Reyna, Beatriz Saenz, Edgar Flores, Edward Dorville, Carlos Gomez, and Ivet Aldaba. Congratulations also to the Food Festival Committee and to everyone involved in the first Latin Food Festival. Your hard work resulted in the Latin Chamber of Commerce raising a substantial amount of desperately needed money for the operation of the Arturo Cambeiro Senior Center. Mil Gracias to all!

By Tom Rodriguez