Puerto Rican culture on display for annual parade on the Ben Franklin Parkway

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Puerto Rican culture was on full display on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway Sunday for the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade.

From music, to dancing, to bright colors and floats, it's a day of celebration for the community.

"We have a theme that is from town to town, united by culture," said Grace Castro, the Marketing Manager for Concilio, the oldest Latino organization in Philadelphia and organizer of the event.

For more than 60 years, the parade has transformed the parkway with a sea of flags and family fun.

"This is an opportunity for us as a community to be together, to say we belong to the city in this magnificent space, so we're happy to be here," said Castro.

Families spanning multiple generations came to the parade together, using this day as an opportunity to teach children about their culture.

"The Puerto Rico flag, the jersey of Puerto Rico, the hat, the necklace, the bandana, everything," said Yomaria Mendoza, showing off the outfits she and her children wore to the event.

More than 1500 people participated in the parade while hundreds more watched the show.

"It's a beautiful, beautiful thing to see this. Because we need more unification in our community now more than ever," said Mamo Maitri from North Philadelphia.

6abc is a proud broadcast partner. Action News anchors Walter Perez and Alyana Gomez hosted the parade.

Alyana says she grew up attending the parade and cherishes this opportunity to be with the community.

"Kind of wrap our arms around the Hispanic community because a lot of families are under attack in many different ways, so I think it's important for us to unite. And how Puerto Ricans and Latinos unite is through culture and music and dancing and so this is kind of our way of mobilizing," she said.