Iconic Little Village ‘paletero’ Fidencio Sanchez dies

Fidencio Sanchez, center, with his wife Eleatia, at a ceremony to accept a check for $384,290 raised through a GoFundMe campaign in 2016. | James Foster/For the Sun-Times

Fidencio Sanchez, the Little Village ‘paletero’ and subject of a viral crowdfunding campaign in 2016, has died.

Joel Cervantes Macias, a family friend who started a GoFundMe campaign after seeing Sanchez hunched over pushing his paleta cart on 26th Street, posted news of his death on Facebook on Wednesday morning.

Sanchez “passed away from complications of sepsis,” Macias wrote. “His family asked me to be the one to give the official notice of his passing.”

Macias’ campaign eventually raised nearly $400,000 from more than 17,000 donors from about 60 countries that allowed Sanchez to retire and spend his twilight years in peace.

“The family wants to give thanks to everybody from around the world that made his last three years of life happy and comfortable,” Macias wrote. “He was amongst family and loved ones by his bedside when he passed.”

I’m afraid I have some very sad news today. This morning at 5:53AM Don Fidencio passed away from complications of...

Posted by Joel Cervantes Macias on Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Sanchez made his living selling popsicles — known in Spanish as paletas — for more than two decades. He would push his cart up and down major avenues and side streets in Little Village eight hours a day, six days a week during the summer, earning $50 to $60 a day. During the winter, Sanchez would sell candies and churros.

Macias, a Little Village native who later moved to Wisconsin, was visiting his old neighborhood in 2016 when he saw Sanchez struggling to push his cart. Macias snapped a photo of Sanchez and posted it to Facebook, instantly drawing sympathy from thousands of Sanchez’s former customers.

A friend of Macias’ suggested he start a GoFundMe campaign for Sanchez. They raised $384,290 in less than two weeks.

“I thought I was going to see him for the holidays,” Macias told the Chicago Sun-Times. “His granddaughter said he was going to call me later today to tell me he had been feeling ill. I’ve been thinking about him all day. I wish I would’ve gone to visit him before he passed away.”

This photo of Sanchez went viral, garnering $384,290 in donations on GoFundMe so the paletero could retire.

Jose Ramirez, a fellow paletero who knew Sanchez for almost 20 years, said his departed friend and colleague was an all-around good fellow.

“He was always very nice and friendly,” Ramirez said. He cared about his customers and the neighborhood.”

Contributing: Maudlyne Ihejirika