GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The city of Green Bay is rekindling a relationship with its sister city.
On Friday, mayor Eric Genrich signed a proclamation to reactivate the city’s partnership with Irapuato, Mexico.
Green Bay and Irapuato formally began their sister city relationship with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on August 25, 2005.
The relationship was active in multiple sectors, including: healthcare, waste water treatment, city planning, security, K-12 education, technical college and university exchange, business incubation, and the arts. This collaboration was most active between the years 2005 and 2014.
“I am honored to be able to rekindle Green Bay’s only existing sister city relationship with the City of Irapuato, Mexico,” said Mayor Eric Genrich. “I have had the honor of meeting and congratulating Mayor Alfaro on her historic election as Irapuato’s first woman to serve in her role, and I look forward to continuing the exchange of knowledge and culture between our two communities.”
A new post-pandemic administration in Irapuato, with the historic election of the first female mayor in the city’s 476-year history, the Honorable Lorena Alfaro, recently expressed interest in reactivating the relationship with Green Bay.
In tandem with the first Green Bay/Irapuato collaboration in nine years, a former Green Bay resident and current sister cities ambassador, Matthew Hollenbeck has been invited to show his photographs from a recent trip to Spain at the Museo Salvador Almaraz in Irapuato from March 4 to April 1, 2023. Alex Zacarias, local educator, artist, documentary filmmaker and current member of the Green Bay/Irapuato working-group, will represent the city of Green Bay at the ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception in Irapuato on March 4.
