On Friday, another flag will fly alongside Bethlehem’s as the city celebrates its newest sister city – Patillas.
The Puerto Rican municipality has been working to formalize a relationship with Bethlehem since the summer of 2023, according to a press release from the City of Bethlehem. Local residents and Patillas residents were included in surveys and community conversations to determine public interest in the sisterhood.
Bethlehem has a long history of welcoming immigrants from Puerto Rico. Some of their biggest impact was felt during Bethlehem Steel’s glory days in the 1940s and 1950s, not just because of the work they did for the company but because of the community they created while working there.
Guillermo Lopez, whose parents were fundamental in forming the local Puerto Rican Beneficial Society, explained on an episode of WDIY's Charla Comunitaria how a family was created at work.
“And they had so much of that love for each other, so deeply in common, and this vision that there could be a better place. So they would talk, and one would say, ‘Well, this happened to my child, they did this to my child in school.’ ‘Yeah, they did it to my child, too.’ And then, before you know it, the beginning of an organization.”
Today, 30% of Bethlehem’s population is Latino and Hispanic, with Puerto Ricans making up a large portion of that.
On Friday, September 20 at 1 PM, the City of Bethlehem will hold a ceremony and flag-raising at Town Hall to make the informal fourteen-year relationship between Bethlehem and Patillas official. Representatives from both cities will be present to honor the blossoming friendship and the ongoing contributions of the Hispanic community in Bethlehem.
