Have you ever tried pinchos, arepas or tamales? These are some of the foods available at the Calle Ocho festival.In Miami, Florida, there is a large Cuban American population, and every year they have a Calle Ocho festival. Calle Ocho (pronounced kye-yay oh-cho) means "eighth street" in Spanish and is the single largest celebration of Latino culture in the United States. Eighth Street is the most popular street in "Little Havana" and is Miami's center of Cuban culture.
Calle Ocho is an enormous street party, and entire streets are blocked off to make room for music, dance, visual arts, food and other fun! Calle Ocho started in 1978 to bring the Hispanic community together, and it was so popular that although only 10,000 people were expected, more than 100,000 showed up! Each year the festival grows and today the event is known as Carnaval Miami and is celebrated over two weekends in March.