The Aurora community held its first Fiestas Patrias parade in six years this weekend. However, turnout was lower than anticipated due to fears of ramped-up immigration enforcement in Aurora and surrounding communities.
“To me it was a little unfortunate,” paradegoer Jazmine Garcia said. “I did have some family members that had fears coming out, so even with attendance today, it was not very well attended. That was a little sad, but you know, we made it what it was. It was honestly still very special.”
Recently-elected Aurora Mayor John Laesch addressed those concerns and said that based on the crowd levels, the city did not add additional security measures.
“There’s clearly increased anxiety and a lot of social media chatter,” he said. “Quite a few people and emails were going out asking us to cancel. It was a balancing act to make sure the community had the opportunity to celebrate and also not portray the excess level of security that we just can’t offer.”
Those fears may have stopped some community members from joining in on the festivities, yet there was still a strong presence of support and pride on Sunday.
From Broadway and Benton Street, families, neighbors and visitors lined the streets in celebration — showcasing Aurora’s rich Hispanic heritage through dance, music and togetherness.
This year’s grand marshal was longtime community leader and East Aurora School District Board Member Saúl Olivas. He was honored for his dedication to Aurora public life.
“I am very grateful,” he said. “It was an honor, and I thought about the members of our community and I needed to show up. I kept telling people, if you are able to show up and you’re willing to, please do, because we cannot be living in fear. We need to show up, and those people who are able to show up for our community, we need to do that.”
Despite the lower turnout, community members received support from organizations whose mission is to educate and advocate on behalf of immigrant and refugees.
“It’s just very important to come out and show support and also just provide security,” Garcia said. “I know there were a lot of groups out here as well. The Aurora Rapid Response Team was actually out here helping patrol the parade, which was great. They were very friendly faces and it meant a lot to us.”
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