The big names from the music world arrive on the Green Friday night to kick off this year’s Puerto Rican Festival. The locals showed up to watch and add their voices to the raising of the Puerto Rican flag on the Green’s flagpole as part of a preview event for this weekend’s two-day tenth annual Puerto Rican Festival of New Haven (Festival Puertorriqueño de New Haven) organized by Puerto Ricans United (PRU). The annual festival brings tens of thousands of people from around the state to celebrate Puerto Rican culture and raise money for good causes. Mayor Justin Elicker (in above video) helped the crowd forget about the soupy summer humidity with his version of “Soñando Con Puerto Rico” …… while rising Sound School senior Benjalie Hernandez (watch above) overcame public-singing jitters to send strains of the Puerto Rican National Anthem skyward to accompany the ascension of the Puerto Rican flag to a perch below Old Glory. Credit: David Sepulveda PhotoCredit: David Sepulveda Photo(Here’s one issue facing Puerto Rico right now that was the subject of discussion in the crowd Thursday: https://www.instagram.com/reels/Dbl-0PVv71K/.)