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We are celebrating this month the 50th year of the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana, of which, at 26 years of age, I had the distinction of being the charter president.
Our club is well known worldwide for the Calle Ocho Festival, the biggest heritage event in the U.S. We have six Guinness World Records: largest Conga Line, largest Cigar, largest Piñata… We think big!
Less is known about the many projects that help our youth, numerous of them going on for decades and not only in Little Havana, but also in many neighborhoods.
Calle Ocho, which at the request of tourism leaders expanded to the week-long Carnaval Miami, partners with sponsors to finance projects like our inner-city youth basketball league. Coached by our members, it is in its 50th year, not only mentoring the participants but also creating opportunities.
We have a program where we have awarded 460 scholarships, including 12 new recipients this month, for a total of 40 current students at colleges like FSU, UF, UCF, USF, FAU, FAMU, and of course Miami Dade College and FIU.
Our members physically built and financed playgrounds at different parks throughout Miami-Dade, including one that was specifically designed for special-needs children. I never realized that a child in a wheelchair could not play in a sandbox until we built one where the wheelchair could go under the raised sandbox.
The Christmas season is especially rough for families that cannot afford toys. Our Kiwanis club provides toys and extends the season to early January to celebrate Three Kings Day, the traditional day for gift-giving in Latin America, helping keep that tradition alive.
Many think that students who attend our public schools get all they need to attend classes, but not school supplies nor the backpacks to carry their books. Our members acquire the necessary supplies, like notebooks, pens, etc., and personally deliver them to kids as the school year starts.
We sponsor the Mater Academy Kiwanis K–5 charter school, specializing in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) in the heart of Little Havana. Its mission is to offer a creative and rigorous academic program, integrating technology and educational resources to ensure students perform above grade level and are equipped for success.
The great majority of the members of Kiwanis of Little Havana do not live or work in Little Havana, but are committed to making our communities better by sponsoring and participating in additional projects, like soccer camps and a summer camp with emphasis on children’s health.
Members personally serve meals to the elderly every Thanksgiving.
We planted 200 Royal Palms along Calle Ocho to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution.
The Kiwanis of Little Havana Foundation was created to help raise additional funds for the Club’s projects. It organizes a gala (next one December 6th at Jungle Island), a golf day, and a pickleball tournament. Its IRS tax status facilitates donations.
Calle Ocho’s vendors make extra cash to have a family vacation. At Carnaval on the Mile in Coral Gables, artists sell their works. Miss Carnaval Miami winners get scholarships and have become dentists, lawyers, judges, and news anchors.
Calle Ocho was conceived in the early years of the club. The goal was to bring together the different communities in our county. At a lunch in the then-popular Red Coach restaurant on Biscayne Boulevard, ideas were considered: a concert? But in what language? A bicycle race down Calle Ocho? But that might cause too heated competition. However, it got us to SW 8th Street. Club member and future president Willy Bermello, who attended graduate school in Philadelphia, remembered its ethnic neighborhood festivals that included boxing. The concepts were jotted on a paper napkin.
Borrowing the American tradition of holding an open house to welcome new families to a neighborhood, the ideas came together to create “Open House Eight, an Invitation to S.W. 8th Street.” Purposely all in English, however it was the non-Spanish guests who coined “Calle Ocho.”
The plan was to offer music, dance, food, art, and—copying Philly—boxing. After overcoming objections from officials, logistics, and securing sponsors, March was chosen because of the weather. Members physically worked all night to assemble stages, place porta-toilets, mark the street for vendors and art, among many other chores. The night before, having daiquiris at the iconic restaurant Centro Vasco, the conversation was: “How many attendees can we expect tomorrow?” The very optimistic consensus was 10,000. In the early hours of the festival, the trams we had hired from Lincoln Road could no longer move along SW 8th Street—it was too crowded. The newspaper headline the next day: “100,000 Attend Calle Ocho.” Mission Accomplished!
The 30 founding members of the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana have endeavored to pass the torch to several generations of younger members, now totaling 175, assuring we continue our commitment of service for the next 50 years to the Miami community that gave so many of us a warm welcome to the United States of America.
For more information: www.carnavalmiami.com & www.kiwanislittlehavanafoundation.org
Leslie Pantin came to Miami as a Cuban exile in 1960, at age 11. He is president of The Pantin Partnership, Public Relations. His father, Leslie Sr., was a trailblazer by becoming the first Cuban in the Orange Bowl Committee and on the Board of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, both pillars of the Miami establishment. Leslie has been active in numerous organizations including president of the Orange Bowl Committee (first non Anglo) and on the Board of Trustees of Florida State University, his Alma Mater, for 10 years, the last four as Vice Chair. His son Les continues the legacy as a board member of the Orange Bowl Committee.
