By Elissa Welle | Detroit Free Press | Published May 1, 2022

Floats, bands atop trucks draped in Mexican flags and dozens of dancers paraded two miles down W. Vernor Highway for Sunday’s Cinco de Mayo celebration.

The 57th annual parade and festival were hosted by the Mexican Patriotic Committee of Metropolitan Detroit with help from the Southwest Detroit Business Association.

The goal was to throw the same safe, family-friendly event of years past, said organizer Raymond Lozano, executive director of the Mexicantown Community Development Corporation and chair of the Mexican Patriotic Committee. In Detroit, the Cinco de Mayo parade has come to symbolize the start of spring.

“If you’re ever around this community, you know that there’s a lot of hugging — a thing that happens with the Latin community — and so not being able to do that safely for two years has created a lot of frustration,” Lozano said. “Everybody’s eager to greet one another.”

Thousands showed up to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and the return of another favorite yearly event after a two-year pandemic pause. Attendance was down compared to the the tens of thousands of prior years.Mariachi music and swirling dancers were a staple of the parade and festival.

This was Arely Aguirre’s fourth time in the parade as a member of the Raices Mexicanas de Detroit dance group. Aguirre, a high schooler at Cesar Chavez Academy in Detroit, said she was nervous at the start with so many people watching.

However, the nerves faded away once she heard the crowd cheer for the dancers. She loves dancing with Raices Mexicanas “because it’s nice knowing you can celebrate your roots while doing something fun.”

Onlookers and parade marchers wandered over to the cultural and music festival at Plaza del Sol after the parade ended at West Grand Blvd. For several hours, dance troupes performed to a crowd of several hundred. Food trucks and vendor booths were scattered across the lawn.

Beatriz Chavez was selling traditional, handmade Mexican clothing at her booth. Demonstrating the different ways to style a rebozo, a shawl worn by Mexican women for multiple purposes, like carrying a baby or protecting from the sun, she spoke of the renewed interest in Detroit’s younger Latina community in learning more about Mexican attire.

“The idea is to promote the use of rebozos because it is like a part of the Mexican culture,” Chavez said. “The new generations know the symbol and how to use it. It’s like the culture is still there no matter where you are.”

It’s local businesses like that of Chavez, whose shop is called Flur de Tuna, that the Southwest Detroit Business Association (SDBA) aims to help. As southwest Detroit has grown in population over recent years, SDBA has helped more small businesses take off.

SDBA representative Jennifer Garnica, of Detroit, said not only has the area grown, but it has also grown more diverse, with Middle Eastern and Vietnamese restaurants opening in the area.

“It’s been a great culture shock when people come down here to know it’s not just Hispanic, but there’s a lot of Middle Eastern and a lot of other places here, so we are very excited to welcome them,” Garnica said.

Juan Gutierrez, of Detroit, also with SDBA, said the parade and festival were a great way for community members of all ages to come together “and build a coalition of support.”

“Everyone is really excited to come out and remember the DNA of southwest Detroit,” Gutierrez said. “We are still here, we’re still working.”

Elissa Welle is a breaking news reporter. You can email her at ewelle@freepress.com or find her on Twitter at @ElissaWelle.