16th Annual Guelaguetza Festival of Poughkeepsie

POUGHKEEPSIE – The Grupo Folclórico de Poughkeepsie (GFP) and the Poughkeepsie Guelaguetza Organizing Committee hosted the 16th Annual Poughkeepsie Guelaguetza Festival 2023, on Sunday, August 6, at Waryas Park, facing the Hudson River. The free event provided a day full of activities for the whole family.

Originating in Oaxaca, Mexico, the Guelaguetza Festival is an annual celebration that brings families, friends, and communities together to celebrate, dance, and enjoy the colorful traditions of Oaxaca, now for 16 years in the Hudson Valley. Guelaguetza is a word from the indigenous Zapotec language that means sharing of mutual gifts, and that is the spirit of the festival where more than 100 artists, dancers, musicians, and singers present the culture and traditions of the eight regions of Oaxaca, Mexico, highlighting the typical dances, the music of the towns, the flavors, and the majestic colors of the costumes of Oaxaca.

This is a binational celebration. There were groups, presenters and teachers coming specially from Oaxaca, Mexico, to participate in the La Guelaguetza de Poughkeepsie Festival. The Banda Azul de Oaxaca traveled to the festival to provide the live music for each of the featured dances; Oaxacan announcer Jennifer Hernández Bernabé, who usually MCs the Oaxacan Guelaguetza at the traditional Cerro del Fortin, came to Poughkeepsie to be the Master of Ceremonies of the Guelaguetza – along with Oaxacan journalist from Univisión, Nayeli Chavez-Geller. The festival also provided classes from teachers Tenoch Carro Valadez (from NYC) and Edgar Manuel Baltazar Amigon, from Mexico City.

At the La Guelaguetza de Poughkeepsie there were dances with live music, with: Grupo Folclórico de Poughkeepsie, Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Nueva York, Ballet Folklorico Guadalupano, Bi Zoolaga Group, Los Diablos de la Mixteca NY and NJ, Costa Oaxaca Group from Freehold, New Jersey, Zaadxil danza de los zancudos de Zaachila, La Envidia NorteñoBanda NY, and DJ Apache of Eugenio Santiago, singers will be: Bibyana Corona, Maricela Aguilar, Araceli Mendoza, Claudia Montes, and Alberto Ojeda. The festival featured plenty of food and crafts for sale by restaurants and shops from the region, a free children’s activities tent, and information from local nonprofits organizations.

Felipe Santos, director of the Grupo Folclórico de Poughkeepsie, was very excited to present all these performers to the public: “That day we are all Oaxacans,” says Santos. The focus of the festival is to keep the cultures and traditions of Oaxaca alive as well as to connect to the diverse cultures of the Hudson Valley and the tri-state area. The festival also purchased new costumes for its dancers from Oaxacan artisans, paying for them with the proceeds from vendors fees of the weekend market at the Underwear factory park, El Mercadito (11am to 8pm, Sat-Sun). “Making Guelaguetza is making a community,” Santos says.

The Poughkeepsie shore of the Hudson River has been the home to La Guelaguetza since 2008. This most important of festivals for the Oaxacan community is an opportunity to spend time with friends and neighbors regardless of race, color, language, gender identity, or nationality. A moment for all to enjoy the culture, traditions, music, dance, food, and identity of the native peoples of Oaxaca.
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