Why Should Delaware Care?
Guatemalans immigrants have established a community in Georgetown — some having been here for decades, and others who recently moved here to reunite with family members and start jobs. The community organizes themselves once a year to remember Tacaná, the town where most Georgetown Guatemalans come from.
Yolanda Mendez remembers having the crown placed on her head that made her queen of the town fair in Ixchiguán, Guatemala, during her teenage years.
Last Saturday, it was her teenage daughter, Jenny Marisol Robles, who was crowned “Reyna de Tacaná,” or Queen of Tacaná, during Georgetown’s annual festival honoring the Guatemalan namesake.
Despite being thousands of miles away from their birth place, Guatemalan natives like Mendez have managed to keep a piece of their home through the Feria Internacional Tacaná — a yearly cultural event that features traditional Marimba music, dance groups and several soccer tournaments to remember the small town where they migrated from.
This event in Georgetown mirrors a festival taking place on the same day in Tacaná, which falls every year on Aug. 15 and honors the Virgin Mary. Both are filled with the same music, food and dances that could be seen in Georgetown on Saturday.
Amel Lopez, another Guatemalan native living in Georgetown, remembers the mountains overlooking Tacaná that brought in fresh cool air and were filled with vegetation.
This year, he continued to honor those memories with his fruit stand selling cut up watermelons, mangos, cucumbers and traditional Guatemalan snacks like raspados, or fruit-flavored water ice.
Lopez still recalls the days he took part in Tacaná’s soccer tournaments that characterized the annual festival.
“This reminds me of when I was little, and although we didn’t have an official soccer ball like they do right now, but at least we had a soccer ball we made from nylon rags when we were little,” Lopez said. “Even if it wasn’t real, it was still soccer.”
A little Tacaná
Kevin Santizo, a Guatemalan native, has lived in southern Delaware for about 20 years. When he first came, Guatemalans were far and few in between. Those numbers have more than doubled, he said.
Hispanics make up around half the town’s population. By Santizo’s estimates, around 3,000 are from Guatemala. And of these, most migrated from Tacaná or San Marcos, mountainous regions located near Mexico’s southern border.
Some Guatemalans have been here for decades, like Santizo and Lopez, who have been here for 22 years.
Others have migrated more recently.
Florencio, one of four music players who filled the crowd’s ear with traditional music characterized by the fluctuating pitches of wooden Marimba bars, has been in Georgetown for two years.
He took turns playing the Marimba and the drums. He said participating in the festival makes him feel more “chapino,” an endearing term for being Guatemalan.
“May we never forget where we came from or who we are,” Florencio said. “I am not ashamed of where I come from the mountain ranges, I grew up there and I am not ashamed because I might be here today but perhaps tomorrow or the day after that I’ll be in Guatemala.”
Florencio is currently undergoing a legal process to obtain residency. His story resonated with other attendees who came to the U.S. escaping poverty and violent situations in parts of Guatemala.
A business-minded community
Guatemalans in Georgetown work across a variety of industries.
Ziulin Moreno, a Venezuelan native, is a business coach at La Plaza, a nonprofit in Georgetown that helps Hispanic entrepreneurs. Her first community event after moving to Georgetown in 2023 was the Feria Internacional Tacaná, where she quickly learned what characterizes the large Guatemalan community.
Moreno said she has seen many Guatemalan immigrants go from being employees to employers, particularly in the construction industry, commercial cleaning service and the food business.
“Latinos have a reputation of being very hardworking, but in the case of the Guatemalan community, they are not only hardworking but also perseverant — and that is important,” Moreno said. “Many of them started with small businesses, yet they remained steadfast in their efforts. And today, I truly see successful businesses run by Guatemalans.”
Sebastiana Mendez, Robles’ grandmother, attended the festival not only to witness her two grandchildren carry their crowns, but also to sell chuchitos — traditional, savory Guatemalan corn tamales with chicken or pork. She goes around to different grocery stores on a weekly basis selling the typical street food.
The fair’s sponsors included local construction groups, painting services and car repair shops.
Political landscape decreases participation
Santizo, one of the fair’s organizers, said participation has been dwindling since President Donald Trump took office two years ago.
At its peak, Santizo said the event would bring in upwards of 5,000 people. When Spotlight Delaware spoke to him the day before this year’s event, he hoped at least 2,000 would show up.
Santizo even made changes to this year’s fair to encourage attendance, like making the celebration free of charge, focusing more on his partnerships with local businesses and leaning heavily on social media promotion.
Lopez said he also has felt the decrease in attendance from his fruit stand.
“It’s a little sad to be honest, what’s going on in our community,” Lopez said. “But a lot of people, despite what’s been going on, have the bravery and strength to go out, and that’s what’s most important.”
Attendees said other predominantly Hispanic events have also been affected.
Moreno, the business coach from La Plaza, said parents are hesitant to let their children attend events, fearful they will be racially profiled for their Latin features, even if they are U.S. citizens.
It is a fear that resonates with Moreno. Her own 19-year-old nephew was arrested by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Newark earlier this year. Moreno’s family has since been able to bring him home after the attempted deportation.
The community is not only attending fewer events, they are also becoming more distrustful, said Yamaris Zabzla, a coordinator with the nonprofit organization Abriendo Puertas/Open Doors, which offers help to victims of domestic violence.
“Our hotline calls have diminished, too, because the victim has fear of calling because they think we are going to report them to [ICE],” Zabzla said.
Despite this, the community remains eager to carry on their traditions, especially to the new generation of Guatemalans in the U.S.
“It’s thanks to God that they want to continue this when they are young women,” Sebastiana Mendez said of her two grandchildren who took part in this year’s coronation for Reyna de Tacaná in Georgetown. “They put the example for other young women to get closer to their culture and participate because we are all children of God.”
The festival also chooses a specific cause to fundraise for each year. In the past, donations were used to help fund the construction of a church in Tacaná. This year, vendors were encouraged to donate part of their earnings to Hospital Los Angelitos, a local hospital in Tacaná that offers free medical services to its patients.
The festival is set to continue next year in Georgetown.
For now, festival organizers share updates on their Facebook page — from events in both Tacaná and Georgetown, to soccer matches and images and videos of Tacaná’s festivities — to further connect the Delaware community with its Guatemalan roots.
