HOLYOKE – In a celebration of Puerto Rican culture and roots, the Nueva Esperanza Inc. will host its second Noche de San Juan Festival on June 25 from 12 to 7 p.m. at Bonin Field in South Holyoke.

The celebration represents the beginning of the summer and is deeply intertwined with Puerto Rican culture. Every June 23, Puerto Ricans celebrate la Noche de San Juan – a night of a feast in honor of Saint John the Baptist’s birth. Coming just after the summer solstice, the day marks a celebration at the beach and goes through midnight where those celebrating then take at least three backwards plunges in the ocean to rid life of negativity and any other burden they are carrying.

The Noche de San Juan Festival was started in Holyoke in the early 2010s by a community stakeholder and in 2019, Nueva Esperanza took over. Executive Director of Nueva Esperanza Cynthia Espinosa said the celebration will continue the tradition within the Puerto Rican community.

“It’s a tradition in Puerto Rico to celebrate this day at the beach with family and friends. People will go in the water and splash backwards a few times to wash away the spring, or the bad juju,” Espinosa said with a laugh. “And welcome the new blessings.”

The tradition is rooted in religion but Espinosa said it connects with a larger cultural theme of celebrating nature through the water.

“Obviously Holyoke doesn’t have a beach, but we decided to do a festival with live music, local arts, vendors,” Espinosa said. “Also some activities around the water.”

She said there will be water slides and a dunk tank fundraiser for a youth program as well at the festival. Espinosa said being in South Holyoke at Bonin Field was going to be a great location for the celebration with the community.

Expected at the festival is a car show where cars from the state will come and compete in best in show, kids favorite and community favorite. Local restaurants will also make it out to the festival to sell food and bring in cultural dishes to Bonin Field, like CRAVE.

Espinosa hopes the event brings in members of the Holyoke community for a celebration of the culture of city’s largest population.

“I think part of it is to have a really fun positive summer festival. Enjoy our culture and be together to celebrate the summer, but also Puerto Rican, Afro-Caribbean culture that is part of our mission,” Espinosa said. “We look forward to having a really smooth and fun day for everybody and be able to enjoy the community, support local business and artists and be a fun event.”

Nueva Esperanza is in the middle of a busy start to the summer, as their partnership with the El Corazon de Holyoke project, or the Heart of Holyoke, is currently working with Puerto Rican and Afro-Caribbean residents along with artists on bringing murals to Holyoke that reflect the city’s culture and arts. The new mural work will be showcased during the Noche de San Juan festival with the artists who have worked on the project expected to be there as well.

On the Nueva Esperanza Holyoke website under the El Corazon de Holyoke section they write, “El Corazon de Holyoke rises with the people to bring back hope and activity as we begin to embrace new life post-pandemic. Local artists have created artworks that center the importance of cultural identity as our ancestral technology of survival and resilience through joy, connection to place, connection to community and link to our ancestors.”

Nueva Esperanza is working with Beyond Walls, a local organization that helps bring public art and curated experiences into the fabric of communities.

The murals will be going up on High, Main and Hampden streets and will be showcases of cultural art to celebrate the Puerto Rican culture in Holyoke. Espinosa said international artists have joined the project and come from the cultures that they work with.

“It will really help place keep the culture while also being able to build out economic opportunity in the future,” Espinosa said.

Most of the seven artists working are from Puerto Rico or have a connection to the Caribbean, and there is also an artist from Portugal that will be working on the mural on Main Street.

Nueva Esperanza is still raising funds to reach its $50,000 goal to cover artists and other project costs.

Beyond Walls is working with the Holyoke Public Schools to work on art curriculum following the completion of the murals.

Funds are being amassed through donations and grants from various foundations. Espinosa added that there are also sponsorship opportunities in raising the funds for the projects. Currently the fundraising is just over $12,000. If Nueva Esperanza raises the $50,000, they will receive a matching grant to complete the project.

Those interested in making a donation can visit https://patronicity.com/project/el_corazn__the_heart_of_holyoke_murals#!/.

Espinosa said it is “very exciting” to develop a unique project that reflects the community of Holyoke.

“This morning I was driving by High Street and the prep work made me feel like, wow this is going to be breathtaking,” Espinosa said. “It definitely was really exciting to be a part of an art organization that was focused on how we embrace and celebrate Puerto Rican, Afro-Caribbean communities in Holyoke.”

Espinosa added the project will hopefully help people learn and appreciate the art and the culture from which the art is coming from. The Noche de San Juan celebration will have more information available on the murals and some artists are expected to attend and showcase their work.