BETHLEHEM, Pa. — As the flag of Patillas, Puerto Rico waved in Payrow Plaza, attendees burst out singing, "Que Bonita Bandera," an anthem by Florencio Morales "Ramito" Ramos.
What a beautiful day in @CityBethlehem where Patillas Puerto RIco @discover_PR became a sister city! 🇵🇷 pic.twitter.com/WvRHssQN5k
— Micaela Hood (@micaelahood) September 20, 2024
The southeastern Puerto Rican municipality — located about 48 miles from San Juan — on Friday became Bethlehem's sixth sister city during a flag-raising and festive celebration.
Before officials raised the flags of Puerto Rico and Patillas, a bilingual ceremony was held inside City Hall.
Bethlehem Mayor Willie. J. Reynolds and Daly Reyes Hernández, Patilla's director of Human Resources, signed a sister city agreement and exchanged gifts (Patillas' Mayor Maritza Sánchez Neris could not attend Friday's ceremony).
Also in attendance, and representing Patillas, were Dr. Ruth Reyes Ramos, founder of Los Buenos de Patillas,
Sheila Colon Rodriguez, director of Culture and Tourism and radio hosts Caesar Lebron Rodriguez and Catalina Rodriguez (to keep those at home in the loop, Caesar Rodriguez was streaming live from the ceremony).
Bethlehem celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month
The celebration comes during Hispanic Heritage Month and one day after hundreds — including students from Freedom and Liberty high schools — converged on the SteelStacks campus for the city's annual celebration.
Several Latino leaders attended both ceremonies including Olga Negrón, executive director of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs, Eric Fontanez, Supervisor of Equity Initiatives at Bethlehem Area School District and Aurea Ortiz, who served as the English/Spanish translator during Friday's ceremony.
Two years in the making
Talk of naming Patillas Bethlehem's sixth sister city began in 2022 by members of the mayor's Latino Advisory Council, according to Janine Santoro, the city’s director of Equity and Inclusion.
More from today’s sister city celebración for Patillas Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 pic.twitter.com/hUSc2yhTbV
— Micaela Hood (@micaelahood) September 20, 2024
"We began to talk about centering our Puerto Rican history and talked about the complications of that and how we would decide what city we would create that relationship with and we decided that this should be a community driven process," Santoro said.
Locals were asked to choose a town in Puerto Rico in March 2023 and had until June 30 to respond.
Though it wasn't the residents of Christmas City who suggested Patillas — instead it came straight from the Isla del Encanto.
"On the last day of tallying the sister city surveys, I was told that there was a package at the front desk here at city hall," Santoro said. "We found that there were close to 60 surveys, not from Bethlehem, but from Patillas, Puerto Rico led by the efforts of Dr. Reyes."
Santoro said residents moved to Bethlehem from Patillas, Puerto Rico in the 40s and 50s to take jobs for Bethlehem Steel.
In 2017, after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, the Bethlehem School District received over 100 students and families from the island who relocated to the city.
Currently, Puerto Ricans make up the largest segment of the Lehigh Valley's fast-growing Hispanic population and a small percentage of those are from Patillas (last August, U.S. Rep. Susan Wild and Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk led a trip with local Latino leaders to Puerto Rico, which included a stop in the municipality).
Reyes Hernández said the sister city partnership will help to develop ways for both cities to mutually benefit.
"We will focus on entrepreneurship, developing mentoring programs that give tools to the entrepreneurs to grow their businesses," she said. "And we are going to promote sports between both communities as social [events].
In essence, this is a collaborative agreement, uniting the efforts in both communities to prosper to all citizens. The ones who migrate. And the one that return to Puerto Rico and to generate a positive impact and a durable life to all citizens."
Bethlehem's other sister cities include Tondabayashi, Japan, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, Foiano di Val Fortore, Italy, Murska Sobota, Slovenia and Corful, Greece.
