There’s a new festival coming to town, and it’s like nothing the District has seen before. Spearheaded by Afro-Latin party planners Adobo and Broccoli City, the one-day Tamarindo Festival will debut on May 6 at RFK Stadium’s grounds with a diverse and star-studded lineup headlined by Dominican rapper Tokischa and Panamanian singer Sech.
Seattle producer Sango and dembow singer Chimbala will also be in the spotlight, alongside reggaeton, Afrobeats, bachata, dancehall, and Soca performances from other international and local artists. The festival will also feature food and drinks from local vendors, as well as a flea market with art, trinkets, and clothing.
Adobo co-founder Pedro Night says that Tamarindo has been 10 years in the making—and that creating a party to unite the area’s Afro-Latin and Caribbean diaspora has always been goal for him and fellow co-founder Walter Alvarado. The duo grew up in Gaithersburg surrounded by Central and South American, Caribbean, and African culture, but didn’t feel that there was a local event that represented the cultural diversity of the DC area as a whole.
Fortunately, Broccoli City was also on the same page. The DC-based music festival had already contacted Adobo about producing a festival, but the pandemic put things on hold. Meanwhile, Adobo continued to put on various events, such as a drive-in screening of Selena and a bar crawl on U Street. “I think once they saw the momentum from us, they approached us again with the idea of coming together to do a festival,” Night says. “We really positioned this for the first week of May to sort of kick off the summer, and we really hope everybody comes out and support the first year of the festival.”
Tickets are now available for presale, and general sales start on Friday at 10AM.
Before becoming Research Editor, Damare Baker was an Editorial Fellow and Assistant Editor for Washingtonian. She has previously written for Voice of America and The Hill. She is a graduate of Georgetown University, where she studied international relations, Korean, and journalism.
