A Dominican Republic Merengue Festival is planned for Sunday, 9 July in Central Park, New York City. The festival is sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism of the DR, the New York City Hall and the New York City Department of Parks. Merengue-dancing activities start at 3 pm. There also will be a talk on the history of Dominican merengue by Professor Paul Austerlitz. Los Hermanos Rosario, Los Toro Band and Milly Quezada and her orchestra will perform. Milly Quezada will also give a free one-hour merengue dancing lesson for the attending public. One DR1 Daily News reader, Beth Marchena, wrote to urge Dominicans to behave with respect, so as not to repeat what she describes as "the unfortunate events that took place on the day of the Puerto Rican Day Parade." "The reputation and character of the Dominican people already suffers from negative publicity exerted by the media, other nationalities who just don’t like us, as well as the actions of the bad apples that exist in every community regardless of nationality, color or socioeconomic status," she writes.
