The Palm Springs Sister City Committee plans to meet Thursday morning to discuss moving forward with a relationship with San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
Background: Palm Springs used to have formal relationships with Victoria, British Columbia, Nikko, Japan, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Gradually, each of those relationships were dissolved.
- Now the committee, headed by business owner Jeffrey Bernstein and former airport commissioner Al Jones, wants to reintroduce Palm Springs to the world.
Boomtown: The committee highlights the economic and cultural benefits of such a partnership.
Meet San Miguel de Allende: The city is 170 miles north of Mexico City in the Bajío region of the country. Travel + Leisure describes it as one of the “most charming” cities in Mexico.
Highlights: The city is most well-known for its Baroque and Neoclassical colonial buildings, as well as the thriving food and wine scene and strong network of local artisans.
- The city’s historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, drawing thousands of tourists a year.
Before colonization: In pre-colonial times, there was a village called Itzcuinapan sitting on what is now San Miguel de Allende. It was inhabited by the indigenous Chichimeca people.
- When Spanish colonizers arrived in the 1500s and attempted to enslave indigenous men, women, children, the original inhabitants were forced out
- At the city’s height of power in the mid 18th century it was one of the biggest and most prosperous cities in New Spain, with a population larger than Boston or New York at the time.
Details: The meeting is at 9 a.m. via Zoom. You can find more information here.
