The annual nine days of festivities honoring Chapala’s patron saint, San Francisco de Asís, have been pared down this year in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Customary activities held at the church and surrounding streets were eliminated, except for daily celebrations of Mass at the parish, 8 a.m. and noon, which are transmitted on Facebook.
In lieu of the traditional processions of pilgrims, the traveling replica of the church’s statue of Saint Francis is being loaded up on modest floats each afternoon at 5 p.m. to make runs through different neighborhoods prior to the evening service. To mark the final day, Sunday, October 4, the saint’s figure will be paraded on a full loop of Avenida Francisco Madero.