Photo: Courtesy Drake-Cortés
The Latino Market’s origin story begins with soccer and hustle. Its development is closely tied to the immigrant soccer league, Liga Pattison, which transformed two waterlogged fields into a bustling hub for weekend matches. Eladio Soto, one of the founding vendors, comments on its unexpected beginnings: “The league started in 2000. The teams that came here were hungry. And that’s where all the ideas began.” What started informally slowly grew into a regular weekend ritual. Now nearly 50 immigrant soccer teams use the fields. Every Sunday from spring through mid-fall, Liga Pattison plays, and the market operates from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The atmosphere is festive and bustling, as visitors cheer on the games, eat and shop. Philadelphia’s Latino population is the city’s fastest-growing demographic. Immigrants from countries including the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia account for a considerable share of this growth. Their presence has revitalized commercial corridors, where Latino-owned businesses have transformed once-declining blocks, and helped strengthen the city’s civic and cultural fabric. In South Philly, this story is lived and felt in ways that run counter to the national storyline. The hyperlocal reality unfolds in contrast to a narrative that too often miscasts immigrant communities as “perpetual foreigners and law-breakers,” flattening a much richer story of resilience, investment, and belonging. The disconnect is striking: While the national debate churns, FDR’s Latino Market shows how a different kind of city can take shape when a public space becomes a platform for partnership.
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