The traditional open-air food-and-entertainment venues at Chile’s Fiestas Patrias are called fondas.
Fondas are temporary or permanent festive venues associated especially with Chile’s September national celebrations. They commonly offer Chilean food, drinks, live music, dancing, and games. Visitors may find dishes such as empanadas, anticuchos, and pastel de choclo, although menus vary by region.
The word originally referred to an inn or eating place and developed into its modern patriotic-festival meaning. Large fondas can become major public gathering spaces during the holiday period.
Fondas are sometimes confused with ramadas, another Chilean term for festival structures or rustic shelters. In everyday discussion the terms can overlap, but fonda is the standard answer for the festive venue associated with Fiestas Patrias.