City parade helps community deal with national tension

El Centro city officials said it’s a time of national tension and the 6 th Annual Mardi Gras Lights Parade and Street Festival is just what the community needs.

Mayor Cheryl Viegas-Walker said, “There’s just so much dissension. There’s just so much anxiety and unease and tension and strife and everything else.”

Nearly 50 brightly lit floats and school marching bands went down for 10 blocks to the cheers of hundreds of people lining up the streets on Saturday night.

“It’s the only parade we have at night. So, there are lights, and there’s excitement and it’s just really a fun time for the family to get out and be together,” Viegas-Walker said.

They said these type of events make people think about friendship and help them to put differences aside.

Council Member Alex Cardenas said, “It brings unity and it brings closeness and it brings fellowship among our residents, not only in El Centro but throughout the county.”

“We come together as a community. And I think that there’s strength in us coming together as a community. And we know that we’re a great community when we all come together to be as one,” Viegas-Walker added.

She said the festivity was a moment for the community to build memories.

“Every time I see parents and kids interacting together, I absolutely love it. The building of memories that last a lifetime, that’s what it’s all about,” Viegas-Walker said.

“This is what this event’s about, is coming together, all walks of life and celebrating oneness and unity in our city,” Cardenas said.

They said for all these reasons, the Mardi Gras Lights Parade is the city’s signature event.

City officials estimate nearly 10,000 people attended Saturday’s event.