A crowd of thousands turned out June 28 for Toñita Fest, an annual block party honoring María Antonia “Toñita” Cay, who has kept her iconic Caribbean Social Club going strong despite decades of neighborhood change.
People packed Grand St. between Driggs Ave. and Roebling St. for a full day of live music and dance performances, a DJ spinning Latin club hits, mini soccer matches, merch sales, drinks and more.
With broad support behind her, Toñita has persevered despite the community change, the pandemic, city regulations and other small business challenges and is now celebrating 52 years providing a home for New York City Puerto Ricans, often called Nuyoricans, and the greater Latino community.
Over the years, Cay has said she’s been offered millions to sell her building and business, which regularly remains packed with people playing dominoes and pool, dancing and drinking beers that are still cheap in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. The annual festival turns out huge crowds — some holding giant cardboard cutouts of Toñita’s face — in support of her institution and what she means to the Latino community.
At the block party, Mamdani took to the main stage and shouted, “Yo soy Boricua,” to the crowd’s delight.
He described Toñita as “an icon of this city.”
“Every single day, she has helped to build a sense of community here, and a recognition for Nuyoricans across the five boroughs,” Mamdani said.
He said Toñita’s mission is even more important today, amid water and power crises in Puerto Rico and very recent disasters like the Venezuela earthquake that killed more than 1,450 people. The sense of pride fostered at Toñita’s is “not specific to any one people, it’s for all,” he said.
Mamdani quoted Tonita as saying, “I’m staying here for my people, as long as I can. This isn’t for me to make money and a fortune. It’s to maintain a space for all of us to be together.”
Before leaving the stage, he led the crowd in chants of “Toñita! Toñita! Toñita!” and “Go New York, go New York, go!”
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso presented Toñita with a key to Brooklyn and called the social club and the woman herself “cultural icons.”
“It is an honor to have her home be here in Brooklyn,” Reynoso said.
A Puerto Rican flag skirt becomes hangable art
The framed work by Bronx-based designer Edwin Reyes, titled “Bandera Viva,” echoed one of his most prominent creations: a hand-sewn, ruffled Puerto Rican flag skirt, worn onstage by singer Lorén Aldarondo Torres of the band Chuwi during Bad Bunny’s acclaimed residency tour.
For Toñita’s version, Reyes used red, white and light blue to represent the territory’s push for independence, rather than the dark blue that more closely resembles the United States flag.
Reyes told the Bronx Times that Mamdani’s office contacted him via Instagram message only the Friday before Toñita Fest. They had seen past media coverage of the flag skirt and asked him to create something of his choosing to present to Toñita.
Reyes said he was “so honored and so excited” by the request and had already wanted to make a smaller, displayable version of the skirt.
But with only one whole day to complete the project, Reyes said he scrambled to get fabric and a frame. His friend Joselyn Rodriguez of the Bronx, who runs an Etsy craft business @Funfindsshop, created a metal placket to commemorate the work’s title and the mayor’s presentation to the legendary Toñita.
Reyes said he loves going to the club and the block party, even though he’s a self-described “homebody.”
“When you got me outside, you got me outside,” he said, adding that the club’s authentic atmosphere isn’t easily replicated. “It’s hot, claustrophobic sometimes, but I love it.”
From the Instagram message to going through security to briefly meeting the mayor, Reyes asid the experience was surreal and quick, and he’s still processing how much it means to him.
“I feel really seen as a designer and a creative. For them to just entrust me with doing kind of whatever I wanted to do felt really exciting,” Reyes said. “I’m excited to see what rolls out from this.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
