Why Detroit held a 2025 Cinco de Mayo parade when Chicago, Philadelphia canceled theirs
Despite rain, wind, cold and worries about immigration crackdowns, the community of southwest Detroit celebrated Mexican culture with its annual Cinco de Mayo parade.
The event kicked off at the intersection of Vernor and Woodmere, as the sounds of Latin music filled the air and Mexican flags breezed across a lineup of cars and trucks at the start of the parade.
This year represents a milestone for the Cinco de Mayo Parade, as attendees marked the 60th year of celebrating Mexican heritage, community and resilience in southwest Detroit, and inviting attendees from across the state and beyond.
Maybe it was due to the weather or fear from the tense political climate, local officials, business owners and community members noticed that fewer people attended this year's festivities compared to previous years. Though an organizer estimated the parade crowd to be about 8,000, and parade goers showed up, eager to celebrate and pass along the tradition to future generations.
Beth Reyes, a 52-year-old southwest Detroit native, noticed a different tone at the parade this year, which she attributes to the Trump administration's policies.
'It seems more quiet,' Reyes said. 'It's usually more cheerful and I've been to the parade in the rain before.'
She came to the parade from Warren with her husband because she felt it was more important this year than ever to show up. Many of her older family members — uncles, grandparents and others of older generations — decided not to attend for the first time ever, she said.
'I'm here to represent and stand here for my people, rain or shine,' Reyes said.
The Cinco de Mayo Parade honors the 1862 Battle of Puebla, when a Mexican army defeated French forces, and is celebrated more in the U.S. than in Mexico.
Cristian Rubio, the assistant general manager at Armando's, a Mexican restaurant on West Vernor, said as he looked out his window he saw fewer Latinos watching the parade this year.
Rubio, a 30-year-old southwest Detroit native, is part of a few Latino social media groups that he said were raising the alarm about the parade as a potential site for immigration raids.
'People were warning each other about not being around possible raids,' Rubio said.
More: Amid fears of immigration raids, Detroit's Cinco de Mayo Parade will still go on
More: Metro Detroit bars, restaurants celebrate Cinco de Mayo, Kentucky Derby
Others say the lower turnout was due to the weather.
Omar Hernandez, owner of Mexicantown Bakery, did notice smaller crowds at the parade, but said he believes it's because of bad weather, not the political climate. As a business owner, he said he supports President Donald Trump's efforts to bring jobs back to America. Hernandez says lower turnout for the parade hasn't noticeably lessened traffic to his bakery.
Over at the Patton Park Recreation Center, a Bad Bunny song blasted from speakers at the Cinco de Mayo festival, but not many were around to hear the boastful beat.
Alma Cruz, president of the Mexican Patriotic Committee of Metro Detroit, which plans the annual Cinco de Mayo parade and festival, said the Sunday festival usually brings up to 250 people.
This year's Sunday festival, however, saw significantly fewer attendees at any given time, she said. Around 3 p.m., there were about 20 people walking around the shops and food trucks. The weather forced some vendors to go home because the strong wind damaged their tents, Cruz said.
The parade, overall, still had a sizable showing given the weather, according to Cruz. She estimates close to 8,000 people still showed up to the event.
'It was a beautiful representation of who southwest Detroit is,' Cruz said. 'We show up and show out.'
Rosendo Ortehua, a Lincoln Park resident who was working the Galindo's Taste of Mexico food truck, saw fewer sales this year during the Sunday festival — just 15 by 4:30 p.m. Last year, he made around 300 sales.
'We brought a lot of food, expecting 300 people,' Ortehua said in Spanish.
At the festival, Herlanda Orozco, 53, said she knows her community and it wasn't just the weather that kept crowds small.
'Latinos don't care,' Orozco said. 'If it's raining or snowing, they still come. These next four years, they're gonna be like 'no'.'
Despite the lower turnout, rain and worries about immigration enforcement, parade goers said the Cinco de Mayo festivities are an important way to celebrate heritage and resilience.
Mauricio Hernandez has attended the parade for the last 10 years, ever since he and his family moved from Chicago. He was going to skip this year's because of rumors that federal immigration enforcement officers might attend the event.
But he didn't want his son to miss out on the parade.
'I want to bring my child out here," Hernandez, 33, of Detroit said. 'He's a 4-year-old. So I really wanted to come out here, have fun, see the parade.'
Inside Rodriguez Vaquerita, a store on West Vernor selling hand crafted boots, hats and apparel, 30-year-old Noel Morales said he's been watching the parade since he was 4 years old, when he moved from Mexico to southwest Detroit. It's a tradition he wants to pass on to future generations.
"The Cinco de Mayo parade here, we use it in Detroit as far as us celebrating our culture, bringing something back to community, and not only that, but showing the new generations a little bit of something about where we come from. Maybe they haven't had an opportunity to go home and visit, so that's what they're seeing here," he said.
José Hernández, 72, stood in front of Chilango Bakery, his sister's business, under an awning protecting him from the rain.
Hernández, who's originally from Mexico, moved to Detroit 12 years ago. Before moving to Lincoln Park, he lived in southwest Detroit but this is only his second time attending the Cinco de Mayo parade.
He anticipated fewer people would attend because of the intimidation and fear he says the Trump administration has instilled in many community members.
'Even those that follow the law perfectly,' Hernández said in Spanish. 'There will be less people who want to expose themselves.'
Hernández said he sees the parade as more than a daylong celebration.
'I see it as a rebellion,' he said. 'To make us feel that here we are, that they need us, that we are not dispensable.'
The theme of rebellion was apparent during the event. One car displayed a green poster taped to a side window that read: 'DERROTAR DONALD TRUMP,' which translates to Defeat Donald Trump. It belonged to By Any Means Necessary, or BAMN, which has participated in the parade since 1985. Kate Stenvig, Detroit national coordinator for the organization, said part of the group's mission is to defend immigrant rights and stop the administration's attack on immigrants.
Local leaders in Philadelphia and Chicago canceled their parades, citing ongoing immigration crackdowns.
In Detroit, there was disagreement among community leaders about whether the parade should go on, with some saying the risk of gathering publicly is too great amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. But one organizer said the thought of canceling the parade was never considered. Doing so would be standing down, one supporter said. And canceling would ignore those who want to celebrate Latino heritage, the organizer said.
Tonia Patino, a business owner in southwest Detroit and board chair of the Southwest Detroit Business Association, said she was torn on the idea of canceling this year's event.
'It's kind of a double edged sword, just because we want to be sensitive to the undocumented and those who fear ICE deportation,' Patino said. 'But at the same time our businesses in this business corridor have suffered tremendously, just from the lack of patrons being in their stores, in their restaurants. Sales are down. And so events like this draw people outside of the community.'
Contact Nushrat Rahman: nrahman@freepress.com. Follow her on X: @NushratR.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit held a 2025 Cinco de Mayo parade as Chicago, Philly canceled
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