Vámonos Pa'l Monte: The Procession

Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz is leading a four-mile processional performance through Philadelphia on Saturday, October 17, as part of Vámonos Pa'l Monte. The route starts at 599 Market Street in the city's civic and colonial center and winds its way to Norris Square, the heart of the city's Puerto Rican population. Along the way, the procession makes stops at Cruz Playground at 5th and Master Streets before arriving at the square. The title, Vámonos Pa'l Monte ('Let's go to the mountains'), comes from the classic Eddie Palmieri salsa track.

The performance unfolds in five chapters, and the wardrobe changes as it goes—adding and shedding layers that draw on Puerto Rico's ecology, landscape, and regional motifs. It all builds toward the finish at Norris Square, which Raimundi-Ortiz treats as 'el monte,' a symbolic mountaintop and collective celebration. The work grew out of two years of field research and collaboration with the Norris Square Neighborhood Project and Taller Puertorriqueño, and it arrives as the US marks 250 years of independence.

This is part of a larger, neighborhood-based public art project Raimundi-Ortiz conceived with costume designer Kristina Tollefson and Mural Arts Philadelphia as a living tribute to Puerto Rican culture, resilience, and migration. It builds on her 2019 piece Exodus | Pilgrimage, which she created in Orlando to honor those displaced by Hurricane Maria. The processional is a collaboration between Raimundi-Ortiz, Tollefson, curator Marángeli Mejía-Rabell, and filmmaker Jon Kaufman.

The procession runs from 10 AM to 4 PM on Saturday, October 17, with a rain date of Sunday, October 18. It's free to join, and you can jump in at the start or meet the group at one of the stops along the way.