Highland Park Sister Cities Group Strengthens Puerto Vallarta Ties Karen Berkowitz - Highland Park Sun Times
go to original May 8, 2014

The Highland Park Sister Cities Foundation and the Counsel General of Mexico are co-hosting an event Friday, May 9 that will build sister city relationships with locations in Mexico. This quilt is part of a previous Sister Cities program and was presented to Highland Park's Sister City Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

The reception, believed to be the first of its kind, will honor communities in the Mexican Consulate’s region of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin that have sister city ties with Mexico.

Highland Park Sister Cities Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works to create bonds between Highland Park and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, as well as the sister cities of Modena, Italy, and Yerucham, Israel.

Richard Wolfe, the foundation’s vice president for the Puerto Vallarta connection, said he and his wife Carol Wolfe, the foundation’s president, approached Carlos Martin Jimenez Macias, the Counsel General of Mexico for the region, several months ago with the idea.

“When we first thought of this idea, we thought we would maybe have 20 or 30 people,” said Wolfe. As of mid-April, more than 100 people had indicated they would attend. The participants will include the mayors of Highland Park, Naperville, Stone Park, Hanover Park and Racine, Wisconsin.

This summer, the Highland Park Sister Cities Foundation is sponsoring a soccer tournament for 12-year-olds from Puerto Vallarta and the Highland Park area over the Fourth of July weekend. Wolfe said 18 youngsters from Puerto Vallarta will participate in the Highland Park July 4 parade on Friday, and compete in soccer matches against teams from the Highland Park area on Saturday, July 5 and Sunday, July 6.

“We’ve had a great response from the Mexican community locally,” said Wolfe. “People want to come out and see how the Puerto Vallarta team plays because they have such good players at 12 years old,” he said.