In contrast to Díaz appearance on Juárez Day, Porfirio Díaz always wore the uniform of a Division General during military parades on Cinco de Mayo and Independence Day. The military parade gained primacy under Díaz with the reorganization of the federal army, the establishment of the Gendarmería, the expansion of the Rurales, and the inclusion of the military cadets of Chapultepec in national ceremonies. All four groups participated in parades and became sources of national pride on days commemorating the glorious victories of the Mexican military. Soldiers marched through the principal avenues of the city and ended either at the Plaza de la Constitución (also called the Plaza de Armas, or zócalo) or at the foot of Chapultepec Castle. On Cinco de Mayo bureaucrats and civilians marched in separate processions from the Alameda to the San Fernando Cemetery to lay wreaths upon the grave of Ignacio Zaragoza, the victorious general at Puebla.

During the Porfiriato, Independence Day parades grew more elaborate and popular than ever before. Beginning in 1883, large numbers of tourists came to Mexico City to participate in the Independence fetes. The completion of the Mexican Central Railroad brought provincial Mexicans and North Americans face to face to commemorate Mexican Independence. In 1883 over 30,000 visitors witnessed a grand cavalcade of Mexico's history. That year's parade featured 13 horse-drawn floats depicting historical scenes in chronological order, including Columbus's discovery of America, Mexican Independence, the Republic, and 10 others. The final and most popular float "Progress—Industry and Peace" presented the image of a locomotive emerging from a tunnel. Expressing in words and symbols the primary slogans and goals of the regime, the float also highlighted Mexico's crowning achievement, the railroad. Moreover, the float gave new meaning to the parade as spectacle and educational tool. Businessmen quickly recognized the parade's potential for advertising their products. In 1899, 23 companies sponsored Independence parade floats. The ingenious decorators of these floats used national symbols of the past to help sell commercial products in the present. The procession of carros alegóricos became a mainstay of Independence Day celebrations, reaching perfection in the gigantic cavalcade of the Centennial of Mexican Independence in 1910.