Vámonos Pa’l Monte: The Processional

Vámonos Pa’l Monte is a neighborhood-based, interdisciplinary public art and engagement project conceived by artist Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz with support from costume designer Kristina Tollefson and Mural Arts Philadelphia; a living tribute to Puerto Rican culture, resilience, and the migration stories that shape communities across the diaspora.

Walk with Raimundi-Ortiz from Center City to Norris Square on Saturday, October 17* and experience the project’s culminating four-mile processional performance firsthand. The processional route through Philadelphia charts a course that moves from civic and colonial symbolism to neighborhood-centered, communal affirmation, told in five chapters. The artist’s custom processional wardrobe, designed by Tollefson, will draw from Puerto Rico’s landscapes, history, and regional motifs, weaving images and themes of diaspora and inheritance with Philadelphia’s colonial and modern-day histories.

Join our shared journey to El Monte at one of the following meeting times and locations:

• 10:00 a.m.     Market Street between 5th and 6th
• 12:30 p.m.     Cruz Playground, 5th and Master Streets
•  2:00  p.m.    Norris Square Park, North Howard & Diamond Streets

Directly following the processional, neighbors, friends, and processional participants are invited to a celebratory Bombazo in Norris Square Park. Join us for dancing and commemorative photos that capture the rich Puerto Rican community of Norris Square and a shared moment in history.

* Rain Date: Sunday, October 18

Vámonos Pa’l Monte is informed by Raimundi-Ortiz’s lived experience as the daughter of Puerto Ricans who migrated to New York City during the 1950s as part of the Second Great Migration—one of many families that arrived in the United States in search of opportunity while carrying deep connections to the island they left behind. Their experiences of migration, longing, adaptation, and survival form the emotional foundation of this work.

Throughout two years of field research and collaboration with partner organizations Norris Square Neighborhood Project and Taller Puertorriqueño, Vámonos Pa’l Monte has been shaped by local histories, community knowledge, and shared storytelling and co-creation. In 2026, as the United States marks 250 years of independence, Vámonos Pa’l Monte invites reflection on whose stories are included within national narratives of liberty and freedom, creating space to consider these complexities while honoring generations of Puerto Ricans whose labor, culture, and contributions have been essential to the fabric of American life. At its core, Vámonos Pa’l Monte is a homecoming in motion, an offering of culture and remembrance, and an open invitation to walk together toward a shared future.