For the first time in a decade, city officials and Mexican leaders in Chicago will host a central celebration downtown to commemorate Mexican Independence Day with a two-day festival.
“El Grito” is a result of the overwhelming push from community leaders to find ways to regulate the car caravans that have taken over the streets in recent years, causing closures, gridlock, and anger from Loop residents amidst pride and joy from revelers the days ahead of Sept. 16.
“Let’s celebrate the fact that this is happening in Chicago and downtown. I’m very proud of the fact that our cultural heritage is being lifted up. I’m very proud that we have demonstrated as an administration that we can lift the soul of who we are,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said this week during an unveiling of the refurbished gateway arch in Little Village.
The festival, taking place at Grant Park’s Butler Field on Saturday and Sunday, aims to be a family-centered celebration, offering food vendors, activities and performances from local and international artists who represent Mexican culture.
On Sunday night, the consul general of Mexico in Chicago, Ambassador Reyna Torres Mendivil, will host the official commemoration of El Grito at the Petrillo Bandshell in Grant Park. While tickets to the festival range from $10 to $175 per person, the civic ceremony will be free and open to the public.
“The Cry of Independence,” as it is translated, is the traditional ceremony paying homage to the traditional call to arms on the eve of Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16, 1810, and the fight for independence from Spain.
“This is the first seed to change the narrative of El Grito in years to come,” Torres said. “It’s the grand event that our community deserves. I’m deeply honored and proud.”
During several community meetings over the last months, however, residents in the downtown area mostly expressed concern, citing the traffic gridlock and mayhem caused by car caravans in the streets over the past five years.
German Gonzalez, one of the organizers, said the intent is to create a “dignified and regulated celebration for Mexicans in the city and surroundings,” that can eventually create a safe celebratory culture rather than avoid the mayhem like years prior. Such celebration, he said, can make the community feel welcomed and appreciated, encouraging them to celebrate honorably, he added.
Johnson said that the city is working with organizers to ensure the safety of residents as well as revelers. Chicago police have a plan for safety and patrolling similar to their crowd-control strategy during last month’s Democratic National Convention, the mayor said.
The festival is expected to draw over 10,000 people per day, and organizers are encouraging attendees to avoid driving and instead, use public transportation to make their way downtown.
“Our plan will be what it has always been: Keep people safe and that they have a good time. Viva Mexico!,” he said.
The project was born about two years ago when business and civic leaders of the Mexican community were disheartened by the narrative created about the growing car caravans as a way to commemorate the holiday. Many looked at the massive celebrations, such as St. Patrick’s Day, as a way to show the possibilities of creating a massive event that represented the economic and cultural power of Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans in the city.
“We contribute to this country, to this city, in incredible ways economically, socially, politically and culturally. We pay thousands and thousands in taxes in the city, ” said Jaime di Paulo, president and CEO of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “Our community deserves the space and the time to be celebrated downtown.”
Other organizers include the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the Mexican Consulate in Chicago in collaboration with city agencies such as the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Park District, and Choose Chicago.
Gonzalez, a young Mexican entrepreneur and owner of several restaurants in the city, spearheaded the conversations that led to the creation of Grito 916, which got a grant from Choose Chicago to begin the planning of the massive celebration.
Mexicans have had a strong presence in Chicago for over a century. Now, 1 in 5 Chicagoans identify as Mexican or are of Mexican descent, according to the latest census. That, however, does not factor in the Mexican community in nearby suburbs or neighboring states; many of them have now made it a tradition to join the unofficial celebration downtown over the last five years.
The informal revelry is not necessarily new.
Since the early ’70s, up until about 10 years ago, there was a grandiose celebration for Mexican Independence Day in downtown Chicago. There was a majestic parade and a civic ceremony on the night of Sept. 15 in Grant Park, where people would gather with their flags to commemorate El Grito, from Mexican, city, and state leaders.
Though several celebrations and ceremonies took place in predominantly Mexican communities across the city, including the parade in Little Village, thousands gathered downtown at night on the days leading up to Mexican Independence Day, caravanning through the streets with Mexican flags and yelling “Viva México.”
Though it’s a spectacle unique to Chicago, the proud waving of flags through the streets has been tainted by concerns about safety, traffic delays and arrests.
Caravans commemorating Mexican Independence Day have long existed, though mostly in neighborhoods and away from downtown. People wrap their cars with flags and drive through the streets honking their horns.
But in the last decade, police began to close streets in Little Village and other predominantly Mexican and Mexican American neighborhoods, prohibiting revelers from gathering and cars from cruising in the area driven by the pandemic and the Trump-era anti-immigrant rhetoric during his presidency.
Luis Gutierrez, founder and CEO of Latinos Progresando, commended city leaders for their support of hosting a massive celebration downtown, but he urges organizers to hold city officials and police accountable to ensure that they don’t use intimidation tactics at the celebration.
Gonzalez said that the team has been in constant communication with the Police Department, finding ways to ensure that people feel welcomed but also to avoid traffic congestion and street closures.
During the last community meeting, 1st District Cmdr. David Harris said that street closures would be decided as activity develops but warned that there will be “zero tolerance for any caravanning.”
“Taking over intersections whether it’s with a vehicle or pedestrian, drinking in the streets, fireworks, any stuff that we’ve experienced in the past,” will also not be tolerated, said Harris.
But Gutierrez said that the approach to prohibit an activity can cause more harm than good.
“People feel offended, discriminated against, and then a defensive and rebellious behavior could be provoked,” he said. “Structuring barricades, checking IDs, all of it, exacerbates how Mexican Americans are constantly ‘othered’ and made to feel like unwanted visitors in their own home.”
Gutierrez was referring to street closures last year when there were reports of police demanding IDs to allow people in the business districts and lifting bridges.
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