South Sioux City expects to break attendance record with Celebrando Siouxland event

Celebrando Siouxland, or celebrating Siouxland, is a week-long celebration of diversity.

It starts with immigrant business tours on Monday, a naturalization clinic Tuesday, a Lotería night on Wednesday, a massive welcoming parade and movie night on Friday and wraps up with a Latino Heritage Festival Sunday. South Sioux City nonprofit Unity in Action organizes the event with community partners and volunteers. Olga Guevara, the executive director, said it takes about a year to plan the event.

“I really think that the success of this has been the community support and the massive, widespread support," she said. "And so, I think this is something that the community wants."

Last year's event had a record-setting 5,000 attendees. Guevara and her team are expecting another record-breaking number this year.

“It just kind of grew from community support and interest and it has a different meaning,” Guevara said. “I think we come across as being intentional and really being focused on promoting the vibrancy and the intentional belonging of our community members. So, it's more than just a celebration. It's more than just a party."

The week’s events are in honor of national Welcoming Week, an annual campaign in which organizations and communities throughout the country celebrate inclusivity.

Celebrando Siouxland started as a block party in 2018 with a budget of $500 and has blossomed into the largest parade in the tri-state area. Unity in Action has raised more than $30,000 for this year’s celebration.

The Friday parade has also transformed its name throughout the event’s history. It started out only referring to Mexicans living in the area, then transitioned to the Latino Heritage parade, and it’s now the first year in which it will be called the Welcoming Parade, or Desfile de Bienvenida in Spanish.

This is also the first year the week will begin with the immigrant business tours.

“What I would like people to take away from this is, that we're better together, that we can come from different cultural backgrounds, from different racial backgrounds, but we can still all come together as a community and enjoy and be respectful towards others’ cultures,” said Unity in Action operations coordinator Ximena Perez.