SAN JUAN — If it were not for the migrants of the Rio Grande Valley, the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle would not exist.
That is according to Melinda Singleterry, the basilica’s human resources representative. She explained this as the national shrine’s mariachi played on a nearby platform with a towering mosaic portrait of Jesus Christ behind them.
Beyond the stage were hundreds of guests from around the state buying trinkets or food or watching the band perform. The scene formed the church’s seventh annual Migrant Welcoming Festival on Saturday.
“(The migrants) are the ones with their dedication, their devotion and their sacrifices that they made to help establish the beautiful basilica that we now have,” Singleterry said to guests ahead of the mariachi’s performance.
Before it became a sprawling, 55,000-square-foot building that about a million people visit annually, the church was a much smaller, wooden shrine. Migrants from all over the United States and Mexico came here in the early 1900s to help build and maintain the structure.
Upon returning to the Valley after working in faraway fields, it is tradition for many migrant families to pay tribute at the basilica. The church hosts a special Mass in honor of those individuals every April.
The annual migrant festival is another way the church thanks the migrants who have put their money and sweat into the shrine. Singleterry said people sometimes mistake the event as being a jamaica, which is not the case.
“We make sure (guests) know it’s a migrant festival, only because it’s a day giving back to them; it’s appreciation for them,” she said.
A different migrant family is honored at the festival every year. This time around, the Serna-Galvan family would share their story with guests following Mass late Saturday afternoon.
Beyond the music and prayer, there was a car and bike show, carnival rides for kids, games and plenty of food.
Roman Salinas, of Mission, watched his 9-year-old nephew enjoy a hamburger as he recalled his own childhood as a migrant. His family, which included three sisters and two brothers, would travel to Illinois and work in the searing fields for hours on end.
“Most of us were old enough to work, so we did. And my parents would go to church often,” the 51-year-old said in Spanish. “My family wouldn’t come here to pray because we lived a little further north, but now that I’m closer, I visit.”
This was his second time attending the Migrant Welcoming Festival. He does so, he said, to see how his family’s hardship is recognized locally.
“You don’t hear of many things like this going on around here,” Salinas said. “But the church sees that migrant families are important. And this is a nice celebration to have.”
Not all guests had experience migrating around the country, but many had some sort of connection to that lifestyle.
Maria Guerrero, her husband and their daughter were seated under the shade of a tree, watching the mariachi play. Her family does not migrate, but Guerrero said her parents each did so when they were growing up.
“Their stories stayed with me,” the 64-year-old said in Spanish. “It was a difficult life to live, but it was all their families could do back then. It feels good to know there are things like this to recognize them and what they had to do.”
The event, which began at 10 a.m., attracted about 1,000 people by 1 p.m., according to Singleterry. It was set to go on until 9 p.m.
Singleterry said she looks forward to the festival every year, explaining that it is something she feels serves a great purpose in the community.
“It really is a dedication. If you listen to the stories that the families tell you, the hard work and labor they put into the fields in the hot and sun, it’s a lot of dedication that they had,” she said. “It’s very joyful to have this because you hear that they have sorrow in a lot of their stories. I think that’s why I look forward to this event, to give back to them.”
