Little Village holds Mexican Independence Day parade

CHICAGO — A little rain didn’t scare away parade-goers in Little Village.

Thousands still gathered — draped in red, white and green — for the 51st annual Mexican Independence Day parade along 26th Street Sunday afternoon.

“It just really goes to show the true kind of core roots of Mexican culture, which is we live to have a good time and nothing can really stop us,” said Esmeralda Castelan Vicario, a parade-goer who braved the rain.

The parade marked an early commemoration of the day Mexico gained Independence from Spain on Sept. 16, 1810, and was its first appearance since the start of the pandemic.