August 4, 2023: Festival for grilling fawns

We're about to go dancing in the parks. Fiesta Patronales de Holyoke is a festival imported from Puerto Rico and cut more in the size of Holyoke. Run by an organization that has been a pillar of South Holyoke for decades, Nueva Esperanza, what originally celebrated the patron saint of a town has grown to be interfaith, and a broad celebration of all the things that make Holyoke unique, especially that it has the highest per capita population of Puerto Ricans outside of the island. We talk with Holyoke mayor Joshua Garcia, and Fiesta Chairperson Melvin Sanchez about the immense growth of this festival, and it's importance not just to the population it serves, but the area as a whole by bringing folx to Heritage Park to celebrate. We're bringing local music to the parks too. For Live Music Friday, we're joined by The Fawns, a seasoned local band who are playing the Florence Civic Center next Thursday as a part of their live music summer series. We’re told that there’s audience participation, and we’re eager to take advantage. And that park may just be your own backyard. But when you're cooking outside, what do you drink with the food you've grilled? That's the question we're trying to answer with the two wines that enter this week's Tina Turner Memorial Wine Thunderdome. We head to State Street Wine & Spirits to pit two wines against each other to see which glass goes best with grilled foods, and hear about the recent Beyonce concert.