La Mexicana Rises from the Ashes [Final Draft]

 On November 7, 2012 flames illuminated the pre-dawn darkness in the Edison neighborhood as Francisco and Carmen Vargas' life work burned to the ground. Apparently sparked by weathered electrical wires in the basement, La Mexicana Market was scorched inside and out, resulting in a total loss.

Judy Sarkozy, the owner of Sarkozy's Bakery, which suffered its own fire in February of last year, was one of the first to arrive on the scene.

“It just broke my heart to see all the stuff that was ruined,” said Sarkozy who recounted watching a river of yellow masa wind its way across the blackness of the market floor.

“It affected all of us. That's our livelihood, that's our baby. We built it from the ground up, with no bank loans—nothing,” said Javier Vargas, Francisco and Carmen's son. We had to throw everything away: cans, produce, meat. It's a very dark feeling because your career, your life work—in four hours, it's gone.”

Nearly seven months later, on a warm, late-May afternoon, Javier and Judy stand in the doorway of Bell's brewery and shake the hands of community members who have arrived for a benefit in support of the rebuilding of the market.

Carmen Vargas moves about busily in a traditional white, embroidered Mexican dress, making her rounds through the crowd of people who fill the Bell's patio. She and her husband Francisco, hair neatly combed in a crisp red polo shirt, thank the community members for their donations in limited English, sell home-made ice cream, and direct the volunteers who have shown up to help out with the benefit.

“I could never have imagined the support that we received from the Kalamazoo community.” said Carmen, whose eyes welled up as she looked at the event around her.

The Vargas family came north to the United States in 1993 from Nayarit, Mexico looking for work and a chance at a brighter future. As Carmen Vargas, the family matriarch puts it: “We came for the same reason as many people all over the world. The opportunity for a better life.”

After first settling in Chicago, the family came to stay with relatives in Kalamazoo after Carmen suffered a broken arm and leg in a car accident while riding in a work van on her way to job. Driven to Michigan by unfortunate circumstances, the family never looked back and Kalamazoo has become their home for the last 18years.

“We got accustomed as quickly as possible. Since that moment, we began to become penguins” said Carmen who chuckled and smiled, referring to the shock of the Michigan climate.

Right away, Francisco saw that there was a market for goods that served the small and steadily-growing Hispanic population in Kalamazoo and he, his wife, and his sons began to sell Mexican products from Chicago out of the back of a truck.

“It was literally a mobile grocery store,” said their son Javier, who remembered that they began to sell exclusively to the Latinos in the Edison neighborhood. “We would go door-to-door every Sunday. We could count 15 houses and that was it. Maybe less than that.”

According to Javier, due to an influx of Hispanic immigration to the city and the expansion of their clientele to include other members of the community, the family achieved their dream of owning their own store when La Mexicana opened on the corner of Portage Road and Lane Blvd in 1998.

Since then, the Vargas family has opened a Restaurant, Mi Pueblo on Gull Road, an ice cream warehouse where they produce their own Mexican popsicles, and has two lunch trucks which visit work sites around the city.

“My dad's always been an entrepreneur,” said Javier. “He always said he'd rather work for himself than anyone else.”

Despite their success and expansion in recent years, Carmen said that the market was the heart of their business.

“The blow was huge, but not big enough to ruin our years of work, she said. “I tell my husband: 'We're like gladiators, we take a lot of hits, but we keep on going.”

For Carmen and Francisco, letting the market go was never an option and they have plans to rebuild what they started with the support of their neighbors. The family is currently dealing with the insurance company, but even with the money they will receive, they will still be short $75,000-$100,000 short of their goal, according to Javier.

The whole family expressed their determination to fight for the business that they love; the business where Javier grew up working the “cash register, butcher shop, taco stand, inventory, payroll—everything.”

“If you achieve something, it's because you worked hard and you believed in what you were doing,” said Carmen.

This hard work has paid off with the many community members who rushed to their side after hearing about the fire, including Noel Corwin, the owner of Gorilla Gourmet, and Laura Bell, the vice president of Bell's Brewery. Bell's donated their banquet and patio spaces free of charge and Corwin donated his time and pineapple chicken tacos for all those in attendance.

“I think they supported us because we're a local, family-run business. We have good principles. We're not there to rip people off or make a bunch of money. We help local schools and local police organizations. They see that from us and they appreciate it,” said Javier.

Noel Corwin, who frequented the market, praised the Vargas' business and was one of the first to commit to helping them do what he could to rebuild.

“Judy [Sarkozy] and myself were talking about it in December. When the conversation started, I said: 'Let's throw a big ass party.” said Corwin. “I think their business is essential to a town that's transitioning. It's one of the few places you see a mixture of culture.”

The mixture of culture that Corwin referred to was visible in the diversity of people who filled the benches at Bell's and waited eagerly to shake Carmen and Francisco's hands and give them well wishes.

“We are very blessed by God,” said Carmen. “We feel like we're not alone in this. It gave us a lot of motivation to keep on going.”

The $4,000 raised at the event last Saturday only scratches the surface for the Vargas family and will be put towards buying new merchandise for their makeshift store at the front of their restaurant.

“We would have been just as happy with $100,” said Javier. “It wasn't really for the money. Its just awesome how the community still supported us.”

Still, Carmen made it clear that they were going to keep on fighting to begin serving the community they love once again.

“Half of our heart is in our homeland and the other half is here in Kalamazoo,” she said.

Word Count: 1,139
Intended Publication: The Kalamazoo Gazette