Wilmington’s 49th Hispanic Parade celebrated Delaware unity and culture
Somos América or We Are America was the theme of Wilmington’s 49th annual Hispanic Parade, celebrating culture and community.
Wilmington’s streets came alive Sept. 14 with the colors, rhythms and energy of the 49th Annual Hispanic Parade and Calle 4 Festival. This year’s theme, “Somos América We Are America,” celebrated both cultural pride and civic unity. But beyond the music and dance, organizers say the event carries a deeper purpose: connecting underserved communities with essential resources.
The celebration helped mark the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month with cultural performances, music and family-friendly activities.
With new participants joining the celebration this year, the parade stretched for more than two hours, making it one of the longest-running in Delaware. Participants ranged from school marching bands to local Hispanic-owned businesses.
This year’s festival honored local community leaders, including Grand Marshal Rony Balthazar Lopez, as well as the parade’s Madrina (godmother) Denise Rodriguez and Padrino (godfather) Wilfredo Crespo.
Not only is the celebration one of Delaware’s oldest and largest Hispanic events, it is also one of its most impactful outreach efforts.
The parade serves a “double purpose,” said India Colon-Diaz, vice president of Nuestras Raíces Inc., which organizes the annual celebration. “It’s celebrating Hispanic heritage, but also making sure that the resources that they normally wouldn’t go look for are coming to them.”
Held in the city’s culturally diverse Westside, the festival drew hundreds of people to Fourth Street. Colon-Diaz called it the state’s largest one-day initiative to connect Black and brown communities with health care, social services and civic resources.
A day of outreach in a few hours
For organizers, the celebration is also about correcting long-standing disparities. “Unfortunately, we were given the bare minimum many, many years ago and we had to make do with what we have,” Colon-Diaz said, reflecting on the challenges Black and brown communities have faced in accessing substance abuse treatment and support.
“We are battling how to get out of that so we can continue to socially grow in our community,” she noted.
Information booths and mobile clinics offered services ranging from opioid recovery and mental health support to immigration assistance. The Delaware Division of Public Health provided resources to help uninsured residents enroll in free cancer screenings.
“Today is all about the community,” said Dawn Hollinger, chief of the Bureau of Cancer Prevention and Control. “It’s the perfect avenue to spread the word about cancer screenings, what we can offer and how to connect them to other resources if they don’t have access to care.”
Even parade participants doubled their involvement. While some members of local nonprofits, churches and volunteer groups marched along the parade route, others moved through the crowd of spectators, handing out flyers and spoke directly with families to raise awareness about available resources.
According to Colon-Diaz, after the parade route returns to its everyday activity, the spirit of Somos América evident on Fourth Street during the festival lives on – not only in Wilmington neighborhoods but across Delaware. Its message of cultural pride and shared purpose reflected in the communities that come together to support one another.
You can contact staff reporter Anitra Johnson at ajohnson@delawareonline.com. To share your community news and activities with our audience, join Delaware Voices Uplifted on Facebook.