NORTHAMPTON — Downtown Northampton during the summer brings high energy across the city streets and with two different salsa centric weekly events with Salsa in the EJ Gare Plaza and Northampton’s Salsa in the Park 2025 season, the community comes together through a celebration of music, dance and culture.
“If music and dancing doesn’t make you happy, you want to take a good look in the mirror because there’s something else going on. Because for the rest of us, it’s bringing us together. It’s making us exchange ideas and become friends and forge relationships and become a stronger community,” said Northampton Arts Events Producer Steve Sanderson on the salsa opportunities as well as other live music events set for the summer in the city.
Salsa in the Park is a series of free Latin dance parties every Sunday from 3-5 p.m. all summer long. June 1 kicked off the series for the summer and Aug. 31 will be the event’s final day for the season.
The vibrant community-driven dance series is led by McCoy Jamison, an internationally trained dancer, instructor and founder of Latin Dance Made Easy. McCoy brings his signature energy, expert instruction and passion for community building through this free outdoor Latin dance party.
Jamison’s dynamic teaching style has won over dances across the globe, as through his brand Latin Dance Made Easy, he offers online tutorials as well as live events that highlight salsa, bachata, merengue, kizomba and more. In addition to public classes, he also provides DJ services and personalized instruction for private parties, weddings and festivals.
All dates are weather dependent. In the event of inclement weather, updates will be posted by 10 a.m. on event days via @nohoarts on Instagram, as well as on the City of Northampton’s official Facebook and Instagram accounts.
This is not the only salsa opportunity in the city this summer as Northampton’s Salsa in the Park 2025 season has been announced. The high-energy series of free Latin dance nights also features Jamison leading lessons and dance for one of the three nights, as well as special guest DJ Bongohead who will be spinning rare Latin vinyl from his deep collection on another night.
The season kicks off on Saturday, Aug. 2 at 6 p.m. with a live performance from Lulada Club. Saturday, Aug. 30 will feature Jamison, and Saturday, Sept. 6 will feature DJ Bongohead.
Sanderson said the efforts of bringing salsa events downtown during the summer stretch came from looking to reestablish a venue for salsa dancing and celebration in the city.
“There was a regular Tuesday night at the old Iron Horse where people would come and salsa dance. There were all these wonderful dances that go with this specific music and it’s beautiful and it brings people together,” said Sanderson. “The Iron Horse had been falling into decay and finally just completely went away so there was no outlet at the time for this wonderful dancing and they [DJ Roger and Mark Guglielmo, two prominent salsa dancers in the region] said ‘can we do an event in the park?’ and I knew immediately it was the right thing to do and so we made it a regular thing.”
Sanderson said both salsa events were born with the same spirit behind them of wanting to continue the unique offerings of salsa dancing in the city. As the events grew in popularity, so did the scale of the events as live bands also are featured performers of salsa nights.
“When salsa in the park is happening, it feels like Northampton is a real city. It has a good international feel, a good community feel. It’s lovely, you can hear the salsa music flowing down Main Street, people dancing, having fun,” said Sanderson. “I love it so much. It’s become one of my favorite events and it’s something new that this era of the Northampton Arts Council has brought to the city.”
He credited the city for its assistance in making these events possible. Salsa dancing requires a special dance floor which the city has helped fund in order to make this event possible. The city has also supported the efforts generally as the city has consistently been involved in promoting and providing the arts and events around it.
“The city helped fund us with a dance floor — the ladies and gentlemen dress up and wear fancy shoes. You can’t just have them dancing in the dirt, you need to have a nice dance floor, and it’s become a spectacle,” said Sanderson. “The city, our local elected officials understanding how Northampton works and at its core, we are an arts community and that’s one of the reasons we’re here. That’s one of the reasons people come here or used to come here. We are an arts community and if you don’t nurture the arts, then you’re just going to have a bunch of condos, full of people from other places, with no flavor, no character.”
The celebration of community, culture and connection that is Salsa in the Park will be weather dependent events. If the weather is uncertain, updates will be posted by 10 a.m. on event days via @nohoarts on Instagram.
Sanderson added that with the current state of the world, salsa events like these create joy for the community and encourage people to come check it out, dance, have fun and enjoy the community of Northampton.
“I’ve lived in New York, I’ve lived in Boston. I know that part of my love for those cities is walking down the street and hearing different styles of music from all over the world and smelling different foods from all over the world. That’s what you love about the city, you hear different languages, it’s beautiful,” said Sanderson. “Don’t be afraid of your neighbors, get to know your neighbors. You don’t have to like them, you don’t have to hangout with them, but you should at least know them. Because maybe you would like them.”
