The big names from the music world arrive on the Green Friday night to kick off this year’s Puerto Rican Festival. The locals showed on the Green Thursday that they have pipes, too. The locals showed up to watch and add their voices to the raising of the Puerto Rican flag on the Green’s f lagpole as part of a preview event for this weekend’s two-day tenth annual Puerto Rican Festival of New Haven (Festival Puertorriqueño de New Haven) organized by Puerto Ricans United (PRU). The annual festival brings tens of thousands of people from around the state to celebrate Puerto Rican culture and raise money for good causes. The fest runs Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. then Saturday 1 to 9 p.m. One highlight this year is the musical lineup including Lisette Melendez (Friday night) and India. (See more details here. Click here to read about PRU’s awards gala.) At Thursday’s flag-raising, three New Haveners without record deals or national musical touring gigs put their all into musical performances of their own, drawing on talents they hone as side gigs to their main daily responsibilities. Truman School teacher Ruth Rosa, for instance, rode the harmonic waves of the National Anthem. Click on the video to watch. Mayor Justin Elicker (in above video) helped the crowd forget about the soupy summer humidity with his version of “Soñando Con Puerto Rico” …  … while rising Sound School senior Benjalie Hernandez (watch above) overcame public-singing jitters to send strains of the Puerto Rican National Anthem skyward to accompany the ascension of the Puerto Rican flag to a perch below Old Glory. She and Elicker and Rosa may be a hard act to follow, but Friday night and Saturday’s card is set to do its best. PRU prez Joseph Rodriguez welcomes the crowd on the Green. Credit: David Sepulveda Photo Credit: David Sepulveda Photo (Here’s one issue facing Puerto Rico right now that was the subject of discussion in the crowd Thursday: https://www.instagram.com/reels/Dbl-0PVv71K/.) The post Local Voices Lift Puerto Rican Flag appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less