‘El Grito’ hits Las Vegas with mariachi, dancing, bell-ringing and fanfare

By Chris Kudialis

Friday, Sept. 16, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Mariachi artists sang, trumpets sounded and violinists plucked their instruments as cheers and celebration from over 300 flag-waving attendees filled the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace Thursday night in honor of Mexican Independence Day.

The 90-minute "Grito de Dolores" event featured both Las Vegas locals and visitors alike, some traveling from as far as Mexico City to commemorate the holiday this weekend.

"Our home cities are fine, but Mexicans love Las Vegas," said Jessica Gamez, a visitor from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, at Thursday’s celebration, in her native Spanish. "There’s always a party here."

Gamez, 40, who wore a homemade Mexican-flag themed vest, matching that of her husband and two friends, said the group has spent the last five years celebrating Mexico’s most popular national holiday in the Las Vegas Valley. They had purchased tickets to see Mexican singing legend Juan Gabriel on Friday, but were refunded when Gabriel died last month. Instead, they’ll be attending Cirque du Soleil’s "Michael Jackson One" show on Friday night.

Waving high a miniature Mexican flag, Paula Chavez of Guadalajara, Jalisco, was another of the cheering visitors on hand at the event. After singing the Mexican national anthem with her daughters Antonela, 17, and Beatriz, 13, Chavez, 41, said the family regularly celebrates the holiday in their hometown but tried Las Vegas this year for the first time. In addition to Thursday’s celebration, the trio has tickets for Mexican rock band Maná on Friday and Latino pop singer Enrique Iglesias on Saturday.

“We’ve heard all about Las Vegas, but we had to see it for ourselves” Chavez said in Spanish.

Mexico's Independence Day is celebrated on Sept. 16, when, in 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla led a rebellion against ruling class imperialists from Spain in the small city of Dolores, Guanajato.

In Mexico, celebrants convene annually before midnight in their communities’ main squares, where elected officials or town leaders repeat Father Hidalgo's shout for freedom. At sunrise, military and civic parades begin a day of celebration with fireworks, food and music.

The Las Vegas edition of the festivities kicked off just before 7 p.m. Thursday with nearly an hour’s worth of mariachi favorites and dancing from the Las Vegas-based mariachi Colima band. As the strings, trumpets, singing and dancing came to a gradual stop, a massive Mexican flag backdrop was unrolled and Mexican Consul Alejandro Madrigal took the stage.

“Mexicans! Long live the heroes who gave us our homeland,” Madrigal shouted in Spanish after a symbolic independence bell rang aloud.

After shouting the names of revolutionaries Hidalgo, Morelos, Allende, Aldama and Matamoros, Madrigal ended with “Long live Las Vegas,” and “the independence of our nation,” in Spanish as the crowd responded with shouts of “viva,” which is Spanish for “long live.”

The Mexican Independence Day weekend festivities also include over a dozen concerts from popular Mexican and Hispanic music artists from Thursday to Saturday, including Carlos Santana, Alejandro Fernandez, Pitbull, Marc Anthony, Julión Álvarez and Gloria Trevi, in addition to Iglesias and Maná.