A rather inspiring human rights event takes place right here in our backyard today when the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) stages its inaugural Parade and Concert for Fair Food in Vinoy Park. Farm workers who’ve been abused and miused are joined by champions of their cause to celebrate the triumph of CIW’s Fair Food Program, which found an impressive bunch of retailers agreeing to purchase exclusively from Florida tomato suppliers that practice humane labor standards. The event also serves as a way to challenge Publix and Wendy’s to join in the crusade — hell, if Walmart can do it, so can those two — while raising funds to continue it.
The festivities being with a parade through downtown St. Petersburg that passes by Wendy’s and Publix locations — where the procession stops and participants make their demands for farm labor justice heard — before continuing to Vinoy Park for the Concert for Fair Food. Atlanta’s Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics warm the day with their brassy R&B grooves. Two Grammy-winning LA bands follow: the explosively energetic fusers of Chicano rock, hip-hop and dance-funk, Ozomatli; and La Santa Cecilia, their own sound calling on a range of Latin styles (including cumbia, Afro-Cuban, bossa nova, bolero and Mariachi music) along with rock 'n’ roll, blues and jazz.
Details: Sat., March 21, noon parade (launch from Bartlett Park), 3 p.m. music at Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg; admission is free but you can donate online and get more info on how you can help at ciw-online.org.
This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2015.