Chicago's Puerto Rican Festival is back in Humboldt Park this weekend, bringing the 48th Annual Puerto Rican People's Day Parade to Division Street on Saturday at noon. The parade will head down Division Street into the heart of Humboldt Park, while the festival itself runs on Division Street and Mozart Street.
The weekend program includes live music, dancing, vendors and food, along with Bomba y Plena performances and parrandas in the parade. Now in its 45th year, the Fiestas Patronales Puertorriqueñas remains one of the Midwest's largest celebrations of Puerto Rican heritage and pride, and this year's schedule gives families and festivalgoers a full stretch of activity in the neighborhood.
That also means Division Street becomes part celebration and part traffic burden on Saturday, though the available schedule does not say how much of the street will be affected or what detours drivers should expect. The festival is one piece of a crowded Chicago summer weekend that also includes the Old Town Art Fair in Old Town and the 60th annual Midsommarfest in Andersonville.
For readers heading to Humboldt Park, the key timing is simple: the parade starts at noon Saturday, and the festival continues through the weekend. The details released so far point to a packed Saturday in the neighborhood, with the parade marking the most visible moment of a four-day celebration that stretches across one of Chicago's most recognizable Puerto Rican gathering places.
