By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
From August 23 to 24, Central Park was home to the second annual Burlington Latin Festival. The event expanded from one to two days for this year’s edition and was filled with food, music, and local Latin businesses.
To kick off the festival, a pre-opening event called “The Great Night” was held at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre on August 22. The pre-event was a fashion show that featured Miss Universe Canada delegates and was sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Burlington.
Matthew Klings, one of the event’s organizers, said that the festival was attended by a total of approximately 10,000 people over the two days.
Klings said that they “doubled the bet” by making the festival a two-day event and described 2025’s festival as a “10 out of 10.”
Klings was also a vendor at the event, working with Hola Café and Market, who serve traditional Colombian food, including empanadas, chorizo, pork sandwiches, and cheese fingers. Hola Café was founded in 2017 and distributes its empanadas to businesses all across Ontario. They cater corporate events, but the Burlington Latin Festival is the only festival they attend.
Klings spoke about the context and purpose of the event.
“Mississauga has a Latin festival,” Klings said. “They have been running their show for 17 years now. Oakville has had its own festival for five years now, but Burlington didn’t have any, so we started one.”
“We want to grow the community,” Klings continued. “It’s not just for Latin people. We want to welcome people from all nationalities to know more about the culture and to preserve Latin heritage across the second and third generations of Canadians as well.”
Klings said that the main piece of feedback he received from attendees was that they wanted a bigger venue.
“They have asked us to be at Spencer Smith Park, just beside the lake,” Klings said. “It’s beautiful and they have more space as well. Hopefully, next year we’ll apply, see what happens, and we’ll show the city what the Latin community can do.”
Performers danced and sang on the stage located at the front of Central Park, while food trucks were parked on the curb nearby. The festival also featured a Kids Zone with a bouncy castle and arts and crafts.
Gadea Tomas Cascales, owner of Gadea Immigration Services (GIS), also had a booth set up at the event. GIS offers immigration services specifically tailored to the Latin community, eliminating language barriers and offering more specialized assistance, often from immigrants themselves.
Tomas Cascales, a regulated Canadian immigration consultant, emigrated to Canada 15 years ago and says she knows how difficult the process can be.
“There are so many immigrants who have family outside the country, and want to unify with them,” Tomas Cascales said. “That’s why we provide this service to the community.”
Patsy Gutierrez, an employee of Cachito, a Mexican vendor selling elotes, commented on the variety of vendors, the countries represented, and the on-stage activities to do at the festival.
“I think it [the variety] is nice,” Gutierrez said. “I think it’s really well balanced, and it’s really nice that the emcee is trying to make sure that everyone’s included. I also want to highlight that I really appreciated that this time they also included some English music, because I feel like that’s a really nice balance for everyone to feel welcome and invited, obviously, without leaving out the Latin side of it.”
Gutierrez also spoke about what she thinks the festival provides to the Latin community in Burlington.
“It gives us an opportunity to show more of what we are, who we are, our culture, our story, and our food,” Gutierrez said. “But it’s not even just our food; we have arts and crafts here as well. It’s just like a little intro to where we’re from.”
