Puerto Rico festival & drones

Barranquitas is opening its 26th Festival del Apio on April 24, even as Puerto Rico’s Senate pushes a separate plan to replace some fireworks with drone light shows. (lexjuris.com) A municipal ordinance authorizes the three-day festival from April 24 to 26 at the Pabellón de las Artes y la Juventud and nearby areas, with the town’s Office of Culture and Tourism handling logistics and artist bookings. The ordinance says Barranquitas is Puerto Rico’s biggest apio producer and has held the crop-themed festival for 25 years. (lexjuris.com) Local and tourism listings say this year’s event includes food kiosks, artisans and live music, with performers scheduled across all three days in the mountain town. Discover Puerto Rico lists the festival as the 25th edition, while the Barranquitas ordinance calls it the 26th, showing a mismatch in public materials around this year’s count. (islanewspr.com (discoverpuertorico.com)) In San Juan, Senate Joint Resolution 175 would direct the Department of Economic Development and Commerce to promote drone light shows as an alternative to traditional pyrotechnics. The resolution was introduced by Popular Democratic Party Sen. Ada Álvarez-Conde and would also require a campaign on incentives available to the industry. (newsismybusiness.com) The measure frames drone displays as a lower-noise option for people with autism spectrum disorder, other sensory-processing conditions and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. It also says the Tourism Company should work with the economic development agency to identify incentives or resources for municipalities and private event organizers making the switch. (newsismybusiness.com) That puts two strands of Puerto Rico event planning side by side this week: towns are still building festivals around farm products, artisans and live bands, while lawmakers are trying to steer the visual centerpiece of those events toward drones. Barranquitas’ ordinance also explicitly authorizes donations, sponsorships and entertainment contracts, underscoring how municipal festivals are being treated as economic development projects as much as cultural ones. (lexjuris.com) (newsismybusiness.com) Drone shows would not erase the rest of the production work behind a public event. In the United States, drone operators still have to comply with Federal Aviation Administration rules for small unmanned aircraft, including night-operation requirements and, when needed, waivers for flights outside standard limits. (faa.gov) (ecfr.gov)) Other governments have already been weighing drones against fireworks because of injury risk, noise complaints and air pollution from pyrotechnics. A 2025 Rockefeller Institute of Government review found those concerns were helping drive more local restrictions on fireworks and more interest in drone-based displays. (rockinst.org) For now, the mountain town is moving ahead with apio, music and crafts from April 24 to 26, while the drone proposal remains a legislative push rather than an announced festival booking. The immediate result is a familiar Puerto Rico festival on the calendar and a separate effort to change how future night skies are programmed. (lexjuris.com) (newsismybusiness.com)