Boricua!

Erin McKenna
2 min readOct 8, 2024

Joy at the Philly Puerto Rican Day Parade

Philly hosted its annual Puerto Rican Day Parade a couple of weekends ago. Though I have absolutely zero Puerto Rican heritage, I like to go every year if I can.

Why? A) it’s fun! You have students in traditional clothing representing dance schools from around the area. In addition, there are groups of students from various schools with a high Puerto Rican population. There is music. And if those things weren’t enough, there are even tricked-out cars (seriously, the sound systems were insane.) B) You don’t need a B.

But my favorite aspect of the parade this year came from the sidelines.

Approximately ten feet away from me was a young adult with Down’s Syndrome. He had on a Puerto Rican t-shirt, a straw hat and was waving a Puerto Rican flag. And with every group that went by, he would yell out, “Boricua!!”

He would often get a cheer or a “Boricua!” back. He added so much fun to the parade experience because one could tell how much he enjoyed himself and the importance of his Puerto Rican heritage to him.

I only stayed for about a half hour before I had another thing to go to, but I hope that young man comes to the parade every year and continues to be proud of his heritage. It was a lovely thing to see.

Photo by Ana Toledo on Unsplash

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Erin McKenna
Erin McKenna

Written by Erin McKenna

Writer hoping to spread joy and laughter. Loves dogs, pasta, Nova basketball, volunteering and learning about different cultures.

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