By Coral Gables Gazette staff
Coral Gables Museum holds a free Family Day on the third Saturday of every month, but this weekend’s edition has a distinctly Dominican focus.
The museum will mark Dominican Restoration Day with Little Santo Domingo Day, a full slate of programming Saturday inspired by the Dominican cultural enclave roughly nine miles north in Allapattah and built around a Smithsonian-affiliated exhibition now on view in Coral Gables.
A holiday, an exhibition and a full day of programming
Family Day on Aragon runs Saturday, Aug. 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with free admission to the museum’s exhibitions throughout the day.
This month’s edition is timed to Dominican Restoration Day, the Aug. 16 holiday commemorating the 1863 uprising that began the war to restore Dominican sovereignty after the country had been reannexed by Spain.
The programming centers on “Many Voices, One Nation: En Nuestras Palabras,” a bilingual exhibition presented at the museum through a partnership with the Allapattah Collaborative CDC.
The schedule includes children’s book readings, hair-braiding demonstrations, a guided exhibition tour, games, a Dominican folklore dance class and a floral-bouquet workshop, along with Dominican food from Telva’s Sweet Bakery and handmade dolls for sale.
The schedule
The day begins at 10 a.m. with a children’s book reading hour led by Fernando Ortiz, the Allapattah CDC’s preservation and community development manager. Ortiz will read “Plátanos Are Love” by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris and “The Secret Footprints” by Julia Alvarez.
Hair-braiding demonstrations by Bratz Sister Salon & Wigs, led by Francisca Rondón, run from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Ortiz returns at noon for a guided tour of “Many Voices, One Nation,” followed from 1 to 2 p.m. by a game hour exploring themes from the exhibition.
A Dominican folklore dance class and demonstration, open to all ages, runs from 2 to 3 p.m., featuring merengue and bachata rhythms and instruments including the güira, tambora and accordion.
The scheduled activities conclude with a floral-bouquet workshop from 3 to 4:30 p.m. led by Melody J. Then, president of FUNDUNIFE. The workshop will explore flowers and foliage associated with Dominican culture. It is free but requires registration, with materials available for up to 30 participants.
Telva’s Sweet Bakery will sell Dominican treats and baked goods from noon to 4 p.m. Throughout the day, the Allapattah CDC also will sell artisanal dolls made by women at the Centro de Madres Nuestra Señora de Regla, a nonprofit organization in Baní, Dominican Republic.
A national exhibition with local roots
“Many Voices, One Nation” originated as a Smithsonian exhibition at the National Museum of American History examining how generations of immigrants and communities have shaped the United States.
The Allapattah Collaborative CDC developed “En Nuestras Palabras” as a localized adaptation through the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street initiative and as part of the national commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary. The CDC was selected as one of 10 organizations nationwide to participate.
Working with Museum on Main Street and the National Museum of American History, the organization created an exhibition using oral histories, archival photographs and personal narratives to place Allapattah’s history within that broader national story.
The Dominican focus of Saturday’s programming reflects the neighborhood from which the exhibition emerged. A stretch of Allapattah along Northwest 17th Avenue was formally nicknamed Little Santo Domingo in 2003 and remains one of Miami’s most concentrated Dominican business and cultural districts.
Saturday’s event marks the second time this year Coral Gables Museum has hosted Allapattah CDC programming connected to the exhibition.
A historic setting
The museum’s home at 285 Aragon Ave. has its own civic history.
The building opened in 1939 as Coral Gables’ police and fire station, a Works Progress Administration project designed by Phineas Paist, the city’s principal architect during its founding era. Original jail cells, a courtroom and former fire-engine bays remain part of the building.
After restoration, it reopened as the Coral Gables Museum in October 2010 and has served as the city’s official visitor center since 2013.
If you go
Family Day on Aragon: Little Santo Domingo Day runs Saturday, Aug. 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Coral Gables Museum, 285 Aragon Ave.
Admission is free and includes access to all museum exhibitions. Most activities are drop-in. The 3 p.m. floral-bouquet workshop requires advance registration and is limited to 30 participants.
