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
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