Arts & Entertainment

This Weekend: Bowling with Dogs, Cuban Festival, Farmer's Market

Looking for something to do this weekend? We're gotcha covered! Here are a few of our picks for weekend fun.

Additional reporting about the Cuban Festival was done by New Port Richey Patch Editor Alex Tiegen.

Looking for something to do this weekend? Check out the Palm Harbor Patch Events Calendar for a complete listing of fun activities.

Here are a few of our picks for weekend fun:


If you like bowling and pets you might want to check out "Bowling with Buster N' Chester" a fundraiser for our good pals at the Suncoast Animal League. The fun starts at 5 p.m. at Dunedin Lanes.

Sunday, you might want to stop by the Cross Roads Farmer's Market at Pop Stansell Park in Palm Harbor. The market begins at 10 a.m. and features handcrafted items from local artisans along with foods and a fresh fruit and vegetable stand.

A very cool festival is going this weekend up in New Port Richey. The Market Off Main and Gaceta Latina, Pasco County’s first Hispanic newspaper, are partnering to host the “First Cuban Festival in New Port Richey” on July 20. The celebration starts at 3 p.m. at The Market Off Main, 6241 Lincoln St. 

The festival spotlights Cuban culture and will feature live Cuban music from local bands, Cuban food for sale and vendors, including representatives of immigration agencies and businesses that sell tickets for flights to Cuba.  

It also features a famous Pasco resident with ties to a crucial time in modern Cuban history.

Juan De Sosa, a local retired businessman who emigrated to the U.S. from Cuba in the 1960s and participated in the Bay of Pigs Invasion on the side of U.S. forces, not only helped organize the event but also will be spotlighted during it.

De Sosa, 86, has lived in Pasco for decades and is the founder of the popular Juan’s Black Bean Deli, which opened in 1999 on the west bank of the Pithlachascotee River and closed for good in another location on Main Street last year. De Sosa is now technically retired, but he brought his recipes to The Market Off Main. He taught the owners there and their employees how to make Cuban food.  

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De Sosa. 86, is passionate about exposing locals to Cuban culture and views the Cuban food he prepares as part of his legacy.

In a past interview with Patch, De Sosa said he was raised in Cuba and that Fidel Castro was a classmate of his at a Jesuit School in Havana. However, De Sosa always insists when telling his story on making it clear that he is no friend of Fidel or Raul Castro. De Sosa’s a Republican, and he’s completely against the U.S. forming any relationship with Cuba under a Castro.

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De Sosa left Cuba in 1960, after Fidel Castro came into power. He joined the CIA-sponsored Brigade 2506. It was a unit of Cuban exiles that landed in Cuba during the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He said he was captured and made a prisoner of war.

After getting back to the United States, he joined the Army but left the service in 1970. He then moved to Pasco County to be closer to his in-laws.

De Sosa was once given the key to New Port Richey and is well known in the area. He’ll take the spotlight during part of the festival.

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