Locos Parade

 

 

 

 

 

Take Mardi Gras, add the Fourth of July and a few other celebrations. It adds up to the Locos Parade in San Miguel.
Wacky, fun, hard to describe and long sorta gives you a small idea. The pictures help. But you really have to be here to see that the WHOLE Mexican community is in the parade and the whole ex-pat community is on the sideline watching in wonderment.

There are floats, gigantic paper mache masks and outfits made by the artesans of this area. It is quite a production. The excitement builds for weeks. The shopkeepers and the hairdressers along with people on the street are all talking about where to meet and who is marching.

This parade, that is now several hours long, started as a fiesta and desfile to celebrate a good harvest. It honors St. Anthony and other saints. Back many hundreds of years ago, orchards surrounded the town. Vestiges of these orchards can still be seen behind the stone walls of many haciendas. Oranges were the main crop. The parade participants used to throw oranges to the crowd. That probably became dangerous. Today they throw small candy. Reminds me of Mardi Gras.

Today is definitely the Locos parade. I can hear the float from my colonia heading down the hill with speakers blaring on their way to the starting line on the other side of town. A happy day for San Miguel! We DO love our fiestas.