Società Dante Alighieri, Italian language and cultural society Museums and memorials Bay of Pigs Museum and Library Bay of Pigs Monument Cuban Memorial Boulevard Park (SW 13th Avenue) Freedom Tower Theaters and performance arts Tower Theatre, 1508 SW 8th St Manuel Artime Theatre, 900 SW 1st St Miami-Dade County Auditorium, 2901 W Flagler St Teatro 8, 2101 SW 8th St ArtSpoken Performing Arts Center, 529 SW 12th Ave Havanafama, 752 SW 10th Ave Teatro Avante, 744 SW 8th Street 2 Floor Calle Ocho Festival Little Havana hosts its annual Calle Ocho street festival (part of the overall Carnaval Miami celebration), one of the largest in the world, with over one million visitors attending Calle Ocho alone. It is a free street festival with a Caribbean carnival feel sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana. Calle Ocho is where different ethnic communities wear colors or flags representing pride in their heritage. Flags from Colombia to Nicaragua to Puerto Rico to Costa Rica and even Ireland flood the streets. Foods from different countries are usually present for purchase, and popular Latin music like reggaeton, salsa, bachata and merengue can be heard throughout the festival. In 1977 tensions among Miami's different ethnic groups were running high. Eight Cuban-Americans, mostly from the Kiwanis of Little Havana, were trying to come up with ideas to address the situation. They considered a bicycle race on SW Eighth Street (Calle Ocho). It was turned down because the organizers feared that it would pit one ethnic group against another. Willy Bermello came up with the idea of doing something similar to the block parties and street festivals of Philadelphia. Calle Ocho was born. The festival takes place between 27th Ave and 4th Ave along Southwest 8th Street. Over 30 stages and hundreds of street vendors participate in the live music street festival now in its 4th decade. Calle Ocho earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records when 119,986 people formed the world's longest conga line on March 13, 1988. In 2010, the Florida legislature identified the Calle Ocho-Open House 8 festival as the official state festival. Places of interest Calle Ocho (SW 8th Street) Cuban Memorial Boulevard (SW 13th Avenue) Little Havana Visitors Center (1600 SW 10 Street) Centro Cultural Español de Cooperación Iberoamericana, Versailles Restaurant SW 8 Street and 36 Avenue Padilla Cigar Factory LoanDepot Park (former site of the Orange Bowl) Calle