Cloudy skies and the constant drizzle on Sunday did not deter the residents of this northern Florida town, where more than 50 actors in 16th-century attire paraded through the colonial district.

Among them was Tory Baker, a St. Augustine woman who traces her family roots all the way back to Menendez.

Baker, wearing a dazzling blue brocaded dress, told Efe that the bad weather would not affect the town’s festive mood, especially this year, when St. Augustine is celebrating its 450th birthday.

“This means a lot to me because of my heritage,” said Baker, who paraded with her father.

The family is aware of its roots thanks to the St. Augustine Historical Society, an organization devoted to researching the genealogy of residents.

At the parade, a number of ladies wore pearl necklaces and dresses in velvet and iridescent fabrics over tight corsets as they strolled, escorted by gentlemen in period suits, along St. George Street, a thoroughfare dotted with shops and bars.

Actors dressed as monks with habits, cowls and straw sandals added their chants to the parade amid camera-toting locals and tourists.

The procession continued around Constitution Square, where an obelisk honors Spain’s 1812 Cadiz Constitution, and it ended by City Hall near historic Flagler College.

There, the Pedro Menendez de Aviles statue, decorated with a red and yellow wreath, was at the center of a ceremony featuring St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver and her counterpart from Aviles, Spain, Pilar Valera.

The mayors attended a gala after the ceremony in the square, originally the plaza of the old Spanish settlement.

The Asturian city of Aviles gave St. Augustine a replica of the San Pelayo, the galleon that brought Menendez to Florida, last Friday.

The celebration will continue throughout the year, with a September gala to be attended by Spain’s monarchs.