Above: México en el Corazón drew an estimated 2,000 people to Fox Pointe on Saturday, September 2. (Photo: Josh Bootsma)
LANSING, Ill. (September 5, 2023) – The North American Institute for Mexican Advancement’s annual tour to celebrate authentic Mexican folklore — called México en el Corazón — drew its biggest crowd since it first came to Lansing in 2017. At Fox Pointe for the first time, it the event also drew the biggest crowd of the 2023 Fox Pointe season so far.
An estimated 2,000 people gathered at the outdoor venue, organizers said.
This is the fifth time the production featuring traditional Mexican music, songs, and dance has made a stop in Lansing.
The three-hour event featured performances by the Guadalajara Folkloric Ballet, the Mariachi Juvenil Colotlán, the Colores Band, the Pepe & Pepillos group, and the Mario Nandayapa Quartet marimba.
Bigger and better
The event’s attendance continues to grow as the show has moved to bigger venues since first coming to Lansing in 2017. That year, the event took place at Memorial Jr. High. The events in 2018 and 2019 took place in TF South. The tour went virtual in 2020 due to the pandemic but returned in person to TF South in 2022.
It was clear this year’s event would draw a large crowd as people continued to pour into Fox Pointe well after the show started at 11 a.m.
Community crowd
The thousands of attendees were spread across the outside venue in lawn chairs and blankets to witness the display of cultural traditions of regions throughout Mexico including Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Nuevo León, and Chiapas.
Although the event is mainly in Spanish, there was some English translation included this year, unlike in previous years.
Many attendees at the event traveled to Fox Pointe from out of town to watch the show.
Chris Perez traveled from St. John, Indiana to attend for the second year in a row.
“It is a wonderful event,” Perez said. “Everyone is so happy here and having a great time.”
The crowd erupted into cheers and excitement as the band Colores emerged from the back of the venue and played their way toward the stage.
Nadia Mendez and her family are proud residents of Lansing’s Latino community. They attend the event every year.
“There is a lot of emotions here,” Mendez says. “This event brings us a lot of joy.”
Martha Vargas and Miguel Gutierrez, a Lansing couple, have dedicated time and effort every year to helping prepare to bring México en el Corazón to Lansing. Vargas is the secretary of Fedejal, an organization that builds bridges between Mexicans in the U.S. and those in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
The México en el Corazón tour will make a stop in Chicago’s Millennium Park on Wednesday, September 6 before its final stop in Houston, Texas on September 8.
For more information on the national tour, visit mexicoenelcorazon.org.
Related
- Photo gallery: México en el Corazón brings thousands to Fox Pointe (September 4, 2023)
- Video: An exclusive conversation with two of the people bringing México to Lansing (September 1, 2023)
