A young recruiter with bulging biceps tapped his fingers against his stomach, following the thumping melody emanating from the stage nearby. A line of people stretched along the steel barricades surrounding his makeshift office, a black-and-gold tent erected by the Orchard Beach promenade. Beside him, a poster depicting a group of soldiers in military fatigues offered, in Spanish, an invitation of sorts:

It said: “Están entrenando para ser más que soldados.” (“They’re training to be more than soldiers.”) “Están entrenando para la vida.” (“They’re training for life.”)

Each Sunday until Labor Day weekend, a different organization pays $20,000 to $50,000 to cover most of the day’s expenses for the Tropical Music Festival, an annual series of Latin concerts at the beach on Long Island Sound, a mile-long stretch of sand known as the Riviera of the Bronx.

On July 22, the festival’s opening day, American Airlines was the principal sponsor. Yesterday, to the dismay of some local officials, it was the United States Army.

“I know we all have our opinions,” said the festival’s M.C., Casper Martinez, a stand-up comedian from the Bronx who broadcasts on a New York Spanish-language radio station, La Mega 97.9 FM. “But we do want to thank the U.S. Army for being here with us.”

Most of those clustered around the stage, about 200 people who swayed animatedly to the beat of salsa and reggaetón, seemed oblivious to the Army’s presence, or simply did not care about it, regardless of how they felt about the war.

Not too far away, though, near steps connecting the parking lot to the beach, two local elected officials, surrounded by about a dozen supporters, stood in protest.

“We should not be allowing our public recreational space to be used for recruiting our youngsters to get killed in Iraq,” said Assemblyman Jose Rivera of the Bronx.

“Our children are not for sale,” added City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, who represents East Harlem and the Mott Haven section of the Bronx.

Ms. Mark-Viverito said the Army, which was doing most of the fighting in Iraq, had increasingly focused its recruiting efforts on the city’s low-income and minority neighborhoods. Last year, the Army opened a recruitment station on 103rd Street in East Harlem, which is predominantly Hispanic, much like the crowd yesterday at Orchard Beach.

Army representatives at the concert declined to be interviewed.

John Velez, 18, who lives in Washington Heights, another of the city’s heavily Hispanic areas, said he was considering joining the Army once he graduates from high school next May, even as he conceded being “a little bit scared” about possibly going to war.

“I’m looking for some direction, and I think maybe the Army could give it to me,” said Mr. Velez, who is entering his senior year at the Manhattan Occupational Training Center. “And they could make me strong.”

Mr. Velez was standing in line outside the Army tent, waiting to pick up one of the T-shirts and dog tags given away by the recruiters. Lillian Robles, who had already collected her giveaways, said one of the men under the tent asked her to write down her name, address, date of birth and phone number on a form before he handed her the items.

“Sounds like a lot of information to give out for free stuff,” said Ms. Robles, who lives in the West Farms section of the Bronx.

“I got a shirt, and I guess I’m going to get a call, too,” she said, though at 45, she does not seem to be a potential Army recruit.

The recruiters, wearing black T-shirts emblazoned with the black-and-gold Army star over the words “Go Army,” did not approach anyone outside the fenced-in area surrounding the tent. At least one of them attracted the attention of passers-by by doing occasional pull-ups on a bar behind the tent.

The Army has 46 recruitment centers across the five boroughs, but despite its aggressive push, recruitment numbers have fallen by 19 percent in the past three fiscal years, to 1,044 in 2006 from 1,295 in 2004, according to the National Priorities Project, a nonprofit research organization that works with mostly liberal causes.

Nationwide, however, the Army said it recruited about 80,600 people in the 2006 fiscal year, or some 7,000 more than in the previous fiscal year. For 2005, it missed its recruiting goal. From 2001 to 2005, Latino enlistments in the Army rose 26 percent.

Brooklyn led the city last year in new Army recruits, with 391, followed by Queens (261), the Bronx (230), Manhattan (109) and Staten Island (53), the National Priorities Project said.

This is the third consecutive year in which the Army has sponsored one of the days at the festival, which has been put together for 11 years by Ralph Paniagua, a longtime promoter of Latino events in the city. In the event’s news release, the “Army Day” was characterized as “an opportunity to acquaint the public with our armed forces in an ambience of mutual camaraderie.”

“We have a lot of Latinos who have joined the military and become very successful,” said Mr. Paniagua, whose 37-year-old son, Joseph, enlisted in the Army when he turned 21.

“This is not about boosting the Army’s ranks,” he added. “This is about the Army showing appreciation for our culture, and us showing appreciation for their service to our country.”