Town of Tonawanda announces Nov. 19 as ‘Anita Alvarez Day’

TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. — The Town of Tonawanda announced Monday night its recognition of Nov. 19 as “Anita Alvarez Day” to honor the 2024 Summer Olympic silver medalist as she prepares to join the U.S. Air Force.

Anita secured second place in artistic swimming back in August during the Paris Olympics. The win marked the first U.S. medal in the sport since 2004.

Tonawanda’s Anita Alvarez wins silver with U.S. artistic swimming team at Paris Olympics

She is a Town of Tonawanda native and was a long-time member of the Tonawanda Aquettes, a competitive artistic swim team that has been around since 1961.

Her mother, Karen Alvarez, said Anita ships off to bootcamp on Tuesday, so Karen and Anita’s father, David, accepted the proclamation on her behalf.

“She has been thinking about the Air Force for a while,” Karen said. “They do have a world class athlete program, which will allow her to continue to train for the next Olympics while being part of the Air Force.”

Watch: Olympian Anita Alvarez brings silver medal home, hopes to compete in LA

The Tonawanda Aquettes were also in attendance Monday night to show their support.

“I know what it takes, I know what it means to the girls, what it means to the families, what it means to the fathers, to the mothers and everyone else, so to have them come out is just the icing on the cake,” David said.

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