The Joliet Latin Music Festival that was scheduled to begin Friday and the Mexican Independence Day Parade scheduled for Saturday have been postponed because of the terrorist attack on the nation.
“There is a lot of mourning going on right now in this country, and we want to regroup and wait for a more appropriate time,” said Lois Nelson, executive director of the Spanish Center in Joliet.
More than 100,000 people attended the festival last year.
The Spanish Center, a United Way agency, sponsors the three-day festival to raise funds for its day-care center.
Alex Ledesma, a Joliet city councilman who represents the heavily Mexican-American east side, said Wednesday that he recommended to the parade’s organizers that it be postponed.
“We have a lot of brothers and sisters that lost their lives in New York,” he said. “We have to show support for the tragedy going on in this country.”
The parade has been rescheduled for Oct. 13.
Nelson said the decision to postpone the festival, held in conjunction with Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16, was reached after Mexican President Vicente Fox decided to cancel celebrations in his country and the United States.
In a statement Tuesday, Fox expressed “solidarity and our most profound condolences” to the U.S.
The festival has been rescheduled for Sept. 28 to 30 in Bicentennial Park at Jefferson and Bluff Streets. It will include music, dancers, food, carnival rides and a fireworks show.
Because of this week’s tragedy, vendors and sponsors of the festival who normally display the Mexican flag also will display the American flag, Nelson said.
For more information on the festival, call the Spanish Center at 815-727-3683 or visit its Web site, www.spanishcenter.org.
