Quito Is Closing Out August With Free Food and Street Salsa
ECUADOR · WHAT’S ON
Key Facts
- —Manden a Las Casas Saturday 22 August, 11am to 8pm, Parque Italia, free entry.
- —Where that is Calles Luis Mosquera Narváez and Núñez de Bonilla, Las Casas, north Quito.
- —Salsa en la Calle Vol. 7 Saturday 22 August, 10am to 10pm, free entry.
- —Where that is The forecourt of the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, San Juan, central Quito.
- —Booking Neither event requires registration or a ticket.
- —Note The big August food festivals, including Hueca Fest, ran earlier in the month.
Neighbourhood food in the north, salsa on a hillside terrace in the old town.
Two free Quito events run on Saturday 22 August. One is a first-time neighbourhood food fair, the other the seventh edition of a street salsa gathering.
What is on today
Two free Quito events run on Saturday 22 August, at opposite ends of the city. Both are outdoors and neither needs a ticket.
Manden a Las Casas is a neighbourhood food fair in the north. It runs from 11am to 8pm.
Salsa en la Calle, in its seventh edition, takes over a forecourt in the historic centre. It runs from 10am to 10pm.
The salsa event runs later, so it is the one still going in the evening. That matters if you are reading this late.
Both Quito free events are street gatherings rather than ticketed festivals. You simply turn up.
Manden a Las Casas
This is the first edition of the fair, named after the barrio it sits in. Las Casas is a traditional residential district in the north of Quito.
The venue is Parque Italia, at the corner of Luis Mosquera Narváez and Núñez de Bonilla. It is the neighbourhood’s main park.
Ecuadorian coverage describes it as a space to eat, share and meet in the barrio. The programme mixes food stalls with live DJs.
Entry is free and no registration is needed. Primicias describes it plainly as de acceso libre.
No organising institution is named in the local reporting. It reads as a community initiative rather than a municipal one.
Salsa en la Calle Vol. 7
This is the seventh edition of a street salsa gathering, held outside the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo. The address is Montevideo and Luis Dávila.
The art centre sits in San Juan, a historic barrio on the western slope above the old town. The building was a military hospital before it became a gallery.
Diario Expreso gives the hours as 10am to 10pm and the entry as free. La Hora confirms both.
One agenda listing gives noon as the start rather than 10am. Where sources differ we are using the two that agree.
The stated purpose is to bring trade to the streets around the art centre. It is as much a local economy project as a dance event.
What you have already missed
The large food festivals of the Quito August calendar ran earlier in the month. Hueca Fest was the biggest of them.
A hueca in Ecuadorian Spanish is a small, cheap, very good local eatery. The festival gathers them in one place.
That festival is the one most visitors are told about. It is over for this year.
The Quito free events left in the last week of August are these smaller neighbourhood ones. They are less publicised and less crowded.
For a resident rather than a tourist, the smaller ones are often the better evening.
Why August is busy in Quito
August is one of the city’s driest stretches, and outdoor programming concentrates in it. The weather is the reason, not the calendar.
The city sits at 2,850 metres, so even in the dry season evenings are cold. Bring a jacket regardless of the afternoon.
Rain arrives quickly and passes quickly at this altitude. An umbrella is more useful than a forecast.
Street events here run to their advertised hours reasonably reliably. That is not true everywhere in the region.
The altitude also means alcohol has more effect than at sea level. Pace accordingly.
Getting to each one
Parque Italia is in the north of the city, in a residential grid away from the tourist route. A taxi or ride app is the straightforward option.
The Centro de Arte Contemporáneo is in San Juan, uphill from the colonial centre. It is walkable from the old town but the climb is steep.
Quito’s trolleybus lines run north to south and cover both broad areas. Neither venue is directly on a stop.
The two venues are roughly a twenty-minute drive apart. Doing both in one day is realistic.
Traffic in Quito is heavy on Saturday afternoons. Allow more time than the map suggests.
What free means here
Free entry is genuine at both events. Neither has a gate, a ticket or a registration link.
You will pay for food and drink at the stalls. Those prices are not published in advance.
Ecuador uses the US dollar, so there is no exchange rate to work out. That is one of the country’s quiet conveniences.
Cash in small notes is worth carrying. Street stalls do not always take cards.
No capacity limit has been published for either event.
Worth the trip
Neither of these is a headline festival, and neither pretends to be. That is precisely why they are worth knowing about.
A first-edition neighbourhood fair is the sort of thing that never reaches an English-language listing. This one has not until now.
Salsa in the street outside an art gallery is a very Quito combination. It says more about the city than a stadium concert would.
Both are over by late tonight. There is no second weekend.
If you are in Quito and free this afternoon, the salsa runs latest. Of the two Quito free events it is the safer bet.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Quito free events this Saturday?
Manden a Las Casas, a food fair at Parque Italia from 11am to 8pm, and Salsa en la Calle outside the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo from 10am to 10pm.
Do I need a ticket?
No. Both events are free with no registration and no published capacity limit.
Where exactly is the food fair?
Parque Italia, at Luis Mosquera Narváez and Núñez de Bonilla, in the Las Casas barrio in the north of Quito.
Where is the salsa event?
On the forecourt of the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, at Montevideo and Luis Dávila, in the San Juan barrio of central Quito.
Did I miss the big food festival?
Yes, if you mean Hueca Fest. The large August food festivals ran earlier in the month.
Sources
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