So, 10,000 Latinos walk onto a dock ....

The line might seem a joke waiting for a punchline, but it's no joke and there is no punchline. At least none that would do justice to the conviviality and family-friendly atmosphere that pervaded the annual celebration of Mexican Independence Day at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia. 

Approximately 10,000 people were in attendance Sept. 15 as the consul of Mexico Carlos Giralt-Cabrales gave the traditional "grito" — the cry and call for independence — amid a day filled with music, dance and food organized by the Mexican Cultural Center. 

It is a safe bet that a majority of those 10,000 gathered were immigrants. Though Mexicans have been documented in Philadelphia since the 19th century, much of the growth in the community started in the 1990s, and has contributed to the revitalization of South Philly, especially around 9th Street. This has been characterized as a hard-working community that keeps its head down and its shoulder to the grindstone, and the multitude of vendors at the festival Sunday gave evidence of this industrious character.

Luchador masks and T-shirts in the colors of Mexico's national soccer team aside, it is interesting to note the way this festival stands apart from many others. First and foremost is the sheer number of children in attendance. This is a testament to how young the Mexican population of the city really is, but also to more than that. In the Mexican immigrant community, children are king. 

Most of those walking around Penn's Landing on Sunday were humble, working-class people whose young children carried with them books and workbooks in Spanish given out for free through an initiative of the Mexican Consulate. Fathers stood with their sons on their shoulders, in quiet attention as the more ceremonious programs of the day took place; mothers sat with sisters and daughters to share the absolutely enormous sandwiches known as cemitas.

A mental health professional that works with members of the undocumented Mexican immigrant community notes that — despite huge challenges faced daily — it is a community that is filled with gratitude. For help. For kindnesses. For opportunity.

The U.S. born and raised children of the Mexican immigrant families in attendance at the festival spoke to us in both fluent English and Spanish. They clung to balloons in the shape of the U.S. cartoon character Dora the Explorer, and wore brightly embroidered Mexican blouses as they walked along the waterfront. 

A waterfront where in 1682, the ship that carried William Penn up the Delaware docked, and he envisioned people of different backgrounds living harmoniously together.  The children at the festival Sunday are William Penn's idea realized. They are bicultural and bilingual and at home. They represent not only their community's present and future, but Philadelphia's.