If Jeremiah Alvarez seemed a little out of place with the charros marching their horses proudly up Chavez Drive in East Chicago Sunday afternoon, he kind of felt out of place, too. “I’m just here accidentally,” Alvarez, of East Chicago said, clarifying that he saddled up to take his son Jeremiah Alvarez Jr.’s spot in the charros’ Fiesta Patrias Parade lineup and wasn’t just riding his horse through the streets of the city on a hot, sunny day.
Jeremiah Jr., who’s 3, “got tired” waiting to ride with one of the parade’s most popular attractions. Celebrating its 100th year this year, the parade has gone through subtle yet palpable changes throughout the century.
There were charros, of course, and the Ballet Folklorico girls in their colorful dresses, though they rode on a platform instead of dancing, likely because of the heat. Maria Pena, who lives near the corner of Parrish and Chavez, doesn’t attend the parade like she used to, but she noticed things were different. Parade participants ride ponies and horses past paradegoers during the Fiestas Patrias Parade in East Chicago on Sunday, Sept.
15, 2024. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune) “We used to bring my grandparents to the parade every year – we’d get them dressed up,” Pena said. “Both my parents worked at the mill – they were ‘millrats’ — but now that all of them are gone, it’s just not the same for me anymore.
I did want to see the horses, though.” Pena noticed there were a ton.