But several cardboard boxes placed at the festival’s western end put a more somber note on this year’s festivities as they filled with emergency supplies for hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.
“We want Puerto Ricans to know that they do matter and they have representation here,” said Magalye Matos, a volunteer helping lead the donation drive.
Less than 1 in 8 Puerto Ricans have electricity and slightly over half have access to drinking water, according to the latest metrics from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“It’s hard to see your people going through something like this,” Matos said.
Almost 30 percent of the city’s population identified as Hispanic or Latino in the 2010 U.S. census.
Many of them packed into Mexican, Salvadoran and Colombian restaurants on West Palisade Avenue on Saturday to celebrate their heritage.
“It’s about unity,” she said.