At the beginning of Kennett Square Borough Council’s meeting on May 6, council president Doug Doerfler acknowledged the presence of a large contingent of visitors from Moroleón, Mexico.

“We do have some visitors in the audience tonight,” Doerfler said, explaining that three years ago, officials from Kennett Square Borough and Moroleón signed a twinning agreement that strengthened a longstanding relationship that had developed.

In the years after World War II, more than five million people from Mexico journeyed to the United States in search of work that would help provide them with a better life. Some of those people left Moroleón and they found their way to Kennett Square, taking employment in the mushroom industry. Through the years and across the miles, Moroleón and Kennett Square have remained connected by all those people who left their families and homes in Mexico to live and work in the Kennett Square area.

Moroleón is a city of approximately 46,000 people located in the state of Guanajuato, which is close to the border with the state of Michoacán, in Mexico. Moroleón has been an important part of the textile industry in its country, and had more than 40 fabric factories in operation in the early 1900s. It is also an important clothes shopping destination in Guanajuato, with clothing stores lining the streets for miles.

The group of visitors from Moroleón included Mayor Jorge Ortiz Ortega and a number of other government officials.