Grito Festival Relocated Because of Papal Visit

El Grito de Dolores, the call by a poor Mexican priest on Sept. 16, 1810, for revolution against Spanish rule, will be celebrated Tuesday night in Lincoln Park rather than on the steps of the Los Angeles City Hall because of the Pope’s visit.

Robin Kramer, an aide to City Councilman Richard Alatorre, said the Mexican Independence Day festivities are being moved to avoid adding to the expected Civic Center congestion.

The Grito Festival will begin in the Lincoln Heights area park at 7 p.m. with music, folklorico dances, poetry and speeches, culminating at 11 p.m. with the reading of the historic words of Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla by Ignacio Pichardo, a representative of the president of Mexico.

There will be a private reception at Plaza de la Raza in the park for dignitaries from Mexico and local officials including Alatorre, City Councilwoman Gloria Molina and Mayor Tom Bradley.

Parade Planned Sunday

The annual East Los Angeles Mexican Independence Day Parade will take place on Sunday at 1:30 p.m., starting at 1st and Lorena streets, up Lorena and east on Brooklyn Avenue to Belvedere Park, scene of a weekend-long celebration that will end with fireworks Sunday evening.

On Monday at 11 a.m., the Comite Mexicana Civico Patriatico will sponsor a raising of the flags of Mexico and the United States at El Parque de Mexico, adjacent to Lincoln Park, and the laying of a wreath by Pichardo.

Both activities follow a weekend of Mexican Independence Day celebrations that are expected to draw 40,000 people to Lincoln Park with booths, food, entertainment and family picnics. The two-day event is sponsored by the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks with the help of a brewing company.

Beginning Friday was a fair sponsored by the Mexican Chamber of Commerce at Olvera Street.