A fixture on the local Latin music scene, bandleader Ralph Irizarry has played in just about every club in the city over the past 30 years, and for every type of audience imaginable.

Yet Irizarry says it's a special treat whenever he performs for the crowds at the annual JPMorgan Chase Latino Cultural Festival in Queens Theatre in the Park.

It's a mixed audience that actually listens to his music.

"It's not like when you're in a club, and the crowd isn't paying too much attention to your lyrics or your arrangements because they just want to dance," says Irizarry, a master percussionist, who plays salsa pura and son Cubano, along with New York swing.

"The people who go to Queens Theatre are a diverse audience from all over Latin America, with every kind of taste you can imagine. They come to listen to different types of folkloric music, and they stay in their seats listening because they can't get up to dance."

Diversity - among the performers as well as the audience - has been a festival hallmark since its inception eight years ago.

Running through Aug. 8 in the theater in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the Latino Cultural Festival features music, dance, film, comedy, poetry and art from several Latin America countries and U.S. cities.

"The essence is basically the same every year - it's the idea of presenting the richness and diversity of the [U.S.] Latino and Latin American cultures by bringing great artists to Queens," says Claudia Norman, the theater's artistic director of Latino programming.

"This is the most ethnically mixed borough, and [the festival] is really an educational platform to showcase that diversity and reach out to the many communities here."

The festival began Wednesday with a performance by a Colombian dance troupe; last night's act was Mexican rock en Espaol singer Julieta Venegas.

Tonight's show, at 8, features the Brooklyn-based Dominican band Super Uba. Tomorrow at 1 p.m., it's family-friendly Boston band Sol y Canto, which specializes in traditional children's songs from Latin America. Irizarry and his eight-piece SonCaf take the stage at 8.

Upcoming events include Argentine dance troupe Fusion Tango (tomorrow); a Monday- night screening of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Valiente's documentary "New York Spin," and separate performances on Tuesday by singers Eva Aylln of Peru, Luca Pulido of Colombia and Lila Downs of Mexico. For more information, go to www.queenstheatre.org.

"The artists originated in many different countries," says Norman. "But they have a lot in common because they're on the same mission: to represent their culture and serve the community."

E-mail: rdominguez@edit.nydailynews.com