A small western Nebraska town will be one of a handful of American cities to be highlighted in a documentary with Spanish ties. Eloy Parra is from Madrid, Spain.
He said one day he wanted to know what the weather was doing in his city, so he brought up a weather site and searched “Madrid.” Parra was surprised to see so many different Madrids in the U-S and he wanted to learn more and share his knowledge. Parra says, “I thought this would make an interesting story for people in Spain who, like me, until a couple of months ago, do not know of the existence of all these towns in the U.S. called Madrid.”
Parra packed his bags and traveled to America to visit each of the nine Madrids. “We went to Madrid, Iowa, from there we traveled all the way to Madrid, Nebraska, and now we are in Colorado where there is another Madrid,” he says. In addition to those three, Parra says there are Madrids in New Mexico, New York, Maine, Virginia, Alabama and Kentucky — and he plans to visit each one.
Parra says the Madrid they visited in Nebraska had a unique disposition. “What we saw was a small town with very, very strong family values, hard-working people and stong religious values as well,” he says. “We were struck by the warmth of the people who welcomed us.”
He will be visiting the Madrids in Colorado and New Mexico before heading back home to Spain. Next summer, he plans to visit the remaining towns in the U.S. and then will begin work on editing his footage and interview audio to create a documentary.
At this point, Parra is uncertain how he will release his documentary, but hopes to have it hit public television, among other media outlets, in the next couple of years.
Thanks to Josh Mackey, KOGA, Ogallala
