Our News is Written in Stone™

Saturday, May 03, 2008

 

A weekend of Cinco de Mayo celebration

Live Oak is going big time with its Cinco de Mayo celebration today, one of two major festivals this weekend observing the Mexican holiday.

A year after its modest inaugural event, this year's celebration will feature more than two dozen vendors, a jalapenos-eating contests traditional dancers and a half-dozen musical acts performing contemporary regional Mexican music.

"I've been thinking about this for a whole year," said Lucia Campos, the Live Oak parks and rec assistant who's organized the festivities.

Sunday sees the Festival Cinco de Mayo staged at Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds. Billed as the biggest event of its kind in Northern California, the celebration attracted about 4,800 people last year. The festival's starting time is two hours earlier than originally scheduled to accommodate the number of bands invited to perform. Mariachis and cultural exhibits also will be featured.

"There will be a variety of everything," said Veronica Ramos of RVR Enterprises, which stages dances, rodeos and Hispanic-themed events throughout California. Mariachis and cultural exhibits are among the offerings.

Both events are free. The weather should cooperate: forecasts call for sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s.

Cinco de Mayo is not an observance of Mexican independence; that occurs Sept. 16. May 6 marks the day in 1862 when a small militia of farmers and Zapotec Indians fought off 6,000 well-equipped French forces in the Battle of Puebla in southern Mexico. Cinco de Mayo is mostly a regional holiday in Mexico. It's a much bigger cultural affair in the United States.

"It's the first big Cinco de Mayo we've ever celebrated here in Live Oak," said Campos. "We're hoping for a large turnout. If we don't have the support of the people, we won't have it next year."

Know and Go

• Cinco de Mayo Festival

Noon-8 p.m. today

Live Oak Memorial Park

O Street and Pennington Road

• Festival Cinco de Mayo

10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday

Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds

442 Franklin Ave. , Yuba City


Comments: Post a Comment



<< Home

Archives

March 2006   April 2006   May 2006   June 2006   July 2006   August 2006   September 2006   October 2006   November 2006   December 2006   January 2007   February 2007   March 2007   April 2007   May 2007   June 2007   July 2007   August 2007   September 2007   October 2007   November 2007   December 2007   January 2008   February 2008   March 2008   April 2008   May 2008   June 2008   July 2008   August 2008   September 2008   October 2008   November 2008   December 2008   January 2009   February 2009   March 2009   April 2009   May 2009   June 2009   July 2009   August 2009   September 2009   October 2009   November 2009   December 2009   January 2010   February 2010  

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?