People of San Miguel: Emigdio Ledesma, Keeping An Ancient Tradition Alive

By Natalie Taylor

The annual Locos Parade of San Miguel de Allende seems like a local take on Mardi Gras, with people in outrageous costumes parading along the streets of the city. But Los Locos goes back to the 1700s when it began as a harvest festival honoring San Pascual Bailon, patron saint of cooks and orchard keepers. Later, St. Anthony of Padua was also added to the celebration.

The hortelanos, orchard keepers, danced to honor the saints and handed out fruits and vegetables to the spectators as they danced. The festivities drew larger and larger crowds encroaching on the path of the dancing hortelanos. To scare people away they donned grotesque masks and poked at the crowd with living or stuffed animals like skunks, ferrets, armadillos and other creatures. People started calling them “locos”—crazy. During the War of Independence in 1810 many residents fled the city and all celebrations died down. Not until the 1950s and the renaissance of San Miguel de Allende did the old traditions started to return and the Locos parade had a revival. One of the participants from that time is still here and I had a chance to get his story.

Emigdio Ledesma, better known as “El Gordo” (the fat one) is 88 years old and has a prodigious memory. He welcomed me into what he calls his “man-cave,” a workshop adjacent to his house, and recounted in detail the celebrations of the past six decades. The celebrants organize themselves into cuadros, squadrons, of which the first was one called El Cuadro Antiguo—the ancient one. El Gordo Ledesma does not live up to his name at all. He is tall and slim, so I had to ask how he acquired that nickname. He said that his father worked at the Fábrica La Aurora when it was a textile factory and as child he would bring his father food in the evening. One of the co-workers noticed him and asked “Who’s that gordito (little fat kid)?” And the nickname stuck. Eventually he ended up working at the same factory, not as a weaver but in the mechanical area.

When he was young, he was not interested in participating in the Locos Parade, because he thought it was “not dignified.” But in his twenties, he had an injury to his right leg and was told it would have to be amputated. An acquaintance suggested he pray to St. Anthony and make a promise to dance in the celebrations if he recovered. His leg improved and he kept his promise. In 1961 El Gordo joined an offshoot of one of the squadrons. They did not have a name originally so people called them, Cuadro Nuevo—the new squadron, and it stuck. They have been invited to festivities in various cities, including Guanajuato, Dolores Hidalgo and Silao where they brought their disguises and music to entertain the locals. El Gordo says that even Stirling Dickinson danced in their cuadro.

Aside from the many masks, posters, papier-mache stars, and other structures, his cuadro created a large wooden model of the Parroquia, which they used in the parade for two years in a row. Then someone offered money for it, but some felt it was too little. At that point, El Gordo brought them back to reality. Fine, he said, let’s not sell it. We’ll take it apart, and each of you can take the debris with you. The group decided that selling it was a better deal. The structure is now displayed at the Instituto Allende Museum.

From its new beginning in the 1960s, when there was a handful of participants and spectators, the Los Locos Parade has grown considerably. In 2025, there were close to 5,000 participants and 130,000 spectators. The preparations involve making polymer masks, costumes, and signs, which is a year-long task. Add to that the logistics of huge numbers of people, and you have a full-time job. It is obvious that El Gordo loves doing this, and having no designated successor, it seems that he will continue doing it as long as he can.

This year the Los Locos parade takes place on Sunday June 14. The floats start along Ancha de San Antonio at about 10:00 a.m. By then the sidewalks are filled with crowds of spectators. If you have never seen it and wish to do so this time, it’s a good idea to get there very early to claim your spot or reserve a terrace view at a restaurant along the path.

Natalie Taylor is a bilingual published writer, editor, journalist, translator and a regular columnist at Atención News

www.natalietaylor.org