Competitors at the annual Amigos for Kids celebrity domino night may not have had the same skills or experience as the old-timers who play nonstop at Domino Park in Miami's Little Havana, but the entertainment at the benefit for the child advocacy nonprofit couldn't have been more authentically Cuban. Amigos planner Debbie Ferrera Aguiar added plenty of island touches when she organized the event for 2,200 guests with the help of Liana Rodriguez of public relations firm the Agency, Pete Diaz of Pete Diaz Productions, and 30 volunteers.
Latin pop stars, visual artists, fashion designers, radio and television personalities, and local politicians—Belkys Nerey, Univision's Jackie Guerrido, Footy from Y-100, Louis Aguirre from Deco Drive, and Florida State Senator Rudy Garcia to name a few—sat in for a few rounds at the 150 domino tables provided by Gold Furniture and arranged on the second-floor Treetop Ballroom at Parrot Jungle. Early in the evening, a DJ from Pete Diaz Productions spun salsa hits, and Hot Jam Entertainment dancers in Tropicana-style showgirl costumes performed on platforms among the domino tables. Later, Miami-based band Hansel y la Orquesta Calle 8 closed the night with lively Cuban dance music.
The invitations suggested guests wear guayaberas, and nearly every man at the party wore some version of the popular tropical linen shirt. The Latin Kings salsa dance troupe also complied, with the men dressed in classic white guayaberas and the women in guayabera-inspired dresses and pantsuits as they performed salsa rueda in front of the stage. At one of the tasting booths beside the dance floor, Edda's Cake Designs offered a cake frosted to look like a guayabera, as well as small black-and-white cakes that resembled dominoes. Tall cloth palm trees from the Canvas Nursery lined the walls, and smaller cloth trees topped cocktail tables furnished by Christina's Party Rentals, another representation of the land Cuban poet Jose Marti described as "where the palm tree grows." On the terrace outside the ballroom, a rumba group played sensuous rhythms, while a conjunto played Cuban country music called guajira in the foyer next to a silent auction.
Downstairs on the main plaza, Afro-Cuban funk band Palo, managed by Riot Music, performed on a circular stage supplied by Pete Diaz Productions while guests sampled food at booths stocked by area restaurants, ranging from the not-so-Cuban MediterAsia, the Pasta Factory, and Ben and Jerry's to the ultra-Cuban sandwiches of Little Havana's Versailles. Three buses ferried guests to and from the overflow parking lot in much greater comfort than is usually found on a Havana guagua.
—Celeste Fraser Delgado
Latin pop stars, visual artists, fashion designers, radio and television personalities, and local politicians—Belkys Nerey, Univision's Jackie Guerrido, Footy from Y-100, Louis Aguirre from Deco Drive, and Florida State Senator Rudy Garcia to name a few—sat in for a few rounds at the 150 domino tables provided by Gold Furniture and arranged on the second-floor Treetop Ballroom at Parrot Jungle. Early in the evening, a DJ from Pete Diaz Productions spun salsa hits, and Hot Jam Entertainment dancers in Tropicana-style showgirl costumes performed on platforms among the domino tables. Later, Miami-based band Hansel y la Orquesta Calle 8 closed the night with lively Cuban dance music.
The invitations suggested guests wear guayaberas, and nearly every man at the party wore some version of the popular tropical linen shirt. The Latin Kings salsa dance troupe also complied, with the men dressed in classic white guayaberas and the women in guayabera-inspired dresses and pantsuits as they performed salsa rueda in front of the stage. At one of the tasting booths beside the dance floor, Edda's Cake Designs offered a cake frosted to look like a guayabera, as well as small black-and-white cakes that resembled dominoes. Tall cloth palm trees from the Canvas Nursery lined the walls, and smaller cloth trees topped cocktail tables furnished by Christina's Party Rentals, another representation of the land Cuban poet Jose Marti described as "where the palm tree grows." On the terrace outside the ballroom, a rumba group played sensuous rhythms, while a conjunto played Cuban country music called guajira in the foyer next to a silent auction.
Downstairs on the main plaza, Afro-Cuban funk band Palo, managed by Riot Music, performed on a circular stage supplied by Pete Diaz Productions while guests sampled food at booths stocked by area restaurants, ranging from the not-so-Cuban MediterAsia, the Pasta Factory, and Ben and Jerry's to the ultra-Cuban sandwiches of Little Havana's Versailles. Three buses ferried guests to and from the overflow parking lot in much greater comfort than is usually found on a Havana guagua.
—Celeste Fraser Delgado