Few things bridge South Florida cultures better than the mango, the juicy-sticky-sweet tropical tree fruit that avalanches our backyards all summer long.
Which is why, when Alexandra Dupuis set about creating her Labor Day block party in Lake Worth Beach, she knew it needed that one delicious ingredient.
The free inaugural bash on Sept. 5, dubbed the Mango Music & Art Festival, will sprawl out along J Street in downtown Lake Worth Beach with a vendor market, live art and 14 bands performing at five venues, co-headlined by Latin funk-soul-jazz acts Tony & The Kings, Electric Piquete and Cumbiamba.
But the delicious focal point will be a potluck-style neighborhood mango cookoff on the J Street Stage, featuring mangoes harvested from the backyards of 12 area neighborhoods. The bounty of fruit will be cooked onstage and turned into 3,600 sampler-sized plates that the public can taste and vote on before declaring a People’s Choice winner.
Dupuis co-owns Pomona Kitchen, a modern American restaurant one block from the festival site. She says she created the mango bash as a celebration of Latin-Caribbean diversity — but also to boost foot traffic for downtown restaurants and music venues during what she calls “the slowest part of summer.”
“There isn’t really a Latin-Caribbean music festival up here in Palm Beach County, and I wanted to pump some business into the neighborhood until season comes back,” Dupuis says.
The action will be concentrated along one block of South J Street between Lake Avenue and First Avenue South, fronting venues including Rudy’s Pub/Bamboo Room, Propaganda and Pomona (named after the Roman goddess of fruit trees and orchards). Participating venues will host live music and DJs spinning vinyls from 1 p.m. until midnight.
A portion of Pomona’s in-restaurant sales will support multiple groups, including Blood Cancer United, Path to College, and For the Children Inc. Another beneficiary: The Guatemalan-Maya Center, a nonprofit organization offering social services to immigrants from the Central American nation.
Dupuis says she picked the charity after the July 9 arrest of Jacob Zapeta-Castro, the Guatemalan owner of El Quetzal Panaderia in Lake Worth Beach, on charges of illegal re-entry into the United States. After the arrest, she says, the festival has taken on an “edge of activism.”
“You try to be neutral as a business owner, but I wanted to provide a space for people who literally drive our economy in South Florida to celebrate their heritage through music,” she says. “It’s a weird time not to stand up for your beliefs. Mangoes speak to our diversity. Everyone has a mango story.”
Dupuis definitely does. The Palm Beach-raised owner-bartender remembers “definitely skipping class sometimes” at Santaluces Community High School in Lantana to pick ripe mangos off neighborhood trees with friends on her way to the beach.
Her restaurant, Pomona, will salute the fruit during the fest with a special menu of mango spare ribs, mango ceviche and mango pork-belly cups that will be available for purchase. There will also be mango-inspired dishes for sale from participating eateries Benny’s on the Beach, Common Grounds Brew & Roastery, L-Dub Subs and Latitude 26, which will all have vendor booths on the block.
As for music, expect a broad menu of noisemakers with national, regional and local buzz, programmed by co-organizer and veteran music promoter Steev Rullman of PureHoney Magazine and Bumblefest fame.
One of them is Electric Piquete, the veteran Miami band full of Latin jazz-funk grooves and poetry. Michael Mut, its bandleader and bassist, says he wanted to play the fest not for its fruit — “I like mamey, not mangoes,” he says — but for its celebrations of culture.
“This is a show about positivity and diversity,” he says. “It’ll be a great day for delicious food, and a place where everyone can be treated with respect and dignity.”
The inaugural Mango Music & Art Festival will take place from 1 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Sept. 5, along South J Street between Lake Avenue and First Avenue South in downtown Lake Worth Beach. Call 561-888-6123 or go to PomonaKitchen.com/mango-festival.