Let’s eliminate some of the confusion right now: Cinco de Mayo isn’t Mexico’s Independence Day, and it’s not an official U.S. holiday. But America and Mexico are hopelessly tangled up in the giant festival that pays homage to a 19th-century battle that may have helped change the course of U.S. history.
The nutshell version goes like this: The morning of May 5, 1862, about 4,000 Mexican soldiers defeated a much larger French army bolstered by Mexican traitors at Puebla. The victory was a major setback for Napoleon III’s work to supply Confederate rebels in the U.S. Civil War. The year-long delay in French support for the South gave the Union time to muster a powerful army that defeated Confederate troops at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, and turned the tide of the Civil War.
“If the French had been successful in Puebla and marched on to Mexico City and had been able to establish a supply line to rebel armies as they envisioned, the outcome of the Civil War might have been different,” says Leroy Lemos, director of events at NEWSED Community Development Corp., which coordinates Denver’s Cinco de Mayo celebration, the largest two-day festival in the country. “It certainly would have been more drawn out and more deadly.”
If that’s not enough justification for dancing in the streets, Lemos offers that the festival is just a nice way to celebrate cultures of every stripe.
“Denver is blessed with having a very wide and deep variety of organizations that are truly committed to preserving and promoting their culture,” he says. “Although Cinco de Mayo denotes a time in Mexican history, it’s more of an American holiday, and America is made up of many, many beautiful cultures. We would be missing the boat if we didn’t truly value and promote all of the tremendous culture Denver and Colorado have to provide.”
South-of-the-border holiday or not, expect a good dose of Mexican flavor at any Cinco de Mayo fiesta you might attend next weekend. Here are some of the things that spice up the celebration:
MARIACHIS
Why you see them: Mariachis are bands of musicians that range from three or four members to groups of 30, and their music is considered the highest form of celebratory entertainment in Mexican culture, Lemos says. “There is an iconish reverence for mariachi and their playing ability, but there is also a taste of the bad-boy image as well. If you have the mariachi there, you’re going to have a good time, and they’re going to have a good time with you.”
The performers typically wear spangled uniforms that resemble a bullfighter’s costume. Each member plays an instrument, typically guitar, violin or trumpet, although the biggest ensembles sometimes include drums. Most members of the band sing too. Most of the state’s Cinco de Mayo celebrations include mariachis on their performance cards:
DURANGO Mariachi Durango | 1-1:20 p.m. Saturday, Santa Rita Park, 111 S. Camino del Rio
DENVER Mariachi Mass | 10 a.m. Sunday, May 7, in the Greek Amphitheater near Colfax Avenue in Civic Center
FORT COLLINS Mariachi Mass | 10 a.m. Sunday, May 7, near North- side Aztlan Community Center, Heritage Park, 112 E. Willow St.
PUEBLO Word Communion Service | 10 a.m. Sunday, May 7, at the Colorado State Fairgrounds, 1001 Beulah Ave. Service includes mariachi music.
TRICKED-OUT RIDES
Why you see them: Sweet rides with dropped suspensions have been around since the late 1930s, when young Mexican-American men in oversized zoot suits and slicked-back hair would cruise strips all over the American Southwest in restored Chevys made low-slung by sandbags stowed in the trunk. Today’s lowriders – sometimes dressed up in $30,000- $50,000 worth of chrome, paint, hydraulics and hand-tucked upholstery – are rolling expressions of culture and charisma. Lemos says he gets a kick out of seeing trucks tricked out in a Denver Broncos theme, and laughs a bit when he thinks about a pink Honda a young woman had done in a Strawberry Shortcake theme. “They really are extensions of your personality.”
Look also for lowrider bicycles at some shows. “They have more chrome than you can even imagine,” says Rhonda Welch, who coordinates Greeley’s Cinco de Mayo/Semana Latina, where more than 100 lowriders, custom cars and bikes are expected next weekend.
GREELEY El Vago Productions’ Custom Car Show | 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Island Grove Exhibition Building, 521 N. 15th Ave., Greeley
PUEBLO Guadalupe Dancers Annual Car Show | 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday, May 7, Colorado State Fairgrounds
FOOD
Why you see it: Food is an integral part of any street festival, no? Most fiestas will have vendors of all types. The most favored:
DENVER Taqueria Mi Familia | Saturday and Sunday, May 7, Civic Center | The Calzada family pulls out its food wagon only twice a year, for Cinco de Mayo and NEWSED’s El Grito festival in the fall. Line up early for tacos purported to be the best in the city.
GREELEY Faith Tabernacle | Saturday, Island Grove Regional Park | Not your ordinary church-lady fare, this group’s barbacoa is reportedly the food of angels.
GRAND JUNCTION Jalapeños | Eat ’em up fast in a contest, 1:45 p.m. Saturday, Third and Main streets
YOUR KITCHEN Think you’ve got the chops to compete? Enter in the Cultural Alliance of Pueblo’s Chili Cook-off Contest, Sunday, May 7, Colorado State Fairgrounds. Call 719-404-2080 for entry information.
PIÑATAS
Why you see them: Piñatas came to North America from Spain in the 16th century and were used by missionaries to attract converts. It probably worked because both Aztec and Mayan tradition already had similar games, in which a pot filled with goodies was hung from a string or stick and broken as an offering. Today’s piñatas typically are made from papier-maché and covered in bright crepe paper. Where you can play next weekend:
GREELEY Piñata Parties | Saturday, Island Grove Regional Park | The Greeley Fire Department hangs piñatas from the ladder truck and lets kids have at ’em. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
CINCOEVENTS
AURORA
10TH ANNUAL CINCO DE MAYO | Noon-1 p.m. and 6:30- 8:30 p.m. Wednesday | Fox Arts Center, 9900 E. Colfax Ave. | Includes a blessing ceremony by Aztec storyteller Tonali, followed by Flamenco and ballet folklorico performances by Jeanette Trujillo of Fiesta Colorado and Folklorico Viva Mexico de Infantil. The
free concerts are presented in conjunction with the Colorado Folk Arts Council.
DENVER
19TH ANNUAL CELEBRATE CULTURE CINCO DE MAYO FESTIVAL | 7 p.m. Thursday, Boettcher Concert Hall | Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets, Denver | 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and May 7 | Civic Center, Colfax Avenue and Broadway, Denver | Attendance is expected to top 400,000 for this two-day festival. Start Thursday with Un Toque de Mexico, a concert by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Mexican opera stars soprano Monica Abrego and tenor Jose Medina, along with the 13-member Mariachi Internacional de America. Pick up your free tickets at any King Soopers. The party really gets going at 10 a.m. Saturday, with a parade of cultural organizations from Chinese lion dancers to African-American stomp dancers, Scottish pipers and German dancers, winds through downtown and into Civic Center. | See newsed.org for a complete schedule.
DURANGO
CINCO DE MAYO FIESTA | 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Saturday | Santa Rita Park, 111 S. Camino del Rio | This fiesta, which takes place in a park that used to be the city’s primary Latino neighborhood, starts with a prayer service and performance by Sacred Heart Spanish Choir and formally opens at 10:50 a.m., when the “Star- Spangled Banner” is sung by Durango High School student Angelica Pozo-DesPortes. Entertainment goes off in 10- minute intervals beginning at 11 a.m. Some highlights include New Mexican chanteuse Ernestine “La Jovencita” Romero, who’ll sing four times during the day, and performances by student groups. Money raised during the fiesta goes to scholarships awarded each year by the Durango Latino Education Coalition.
FORT COLLINS
CINCO DE MAYO FIESTA 2006 | Friday, Saturday and May 7 |
Find a whole weekend filled with cultural events on a more family- friendly scale. The headliner is a free talk by labor-reform leader Dolores Huerta, 7-9 p.m., Friday at the Northside Aztlan Community Center, 112 E. Willow St. Call 970-221-6655 for details. After you fill up intellectually, spend Saturday and Sunday wandering around Old Town Square (10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday) or Heritage Park (10 a.m.-6 p.m. May 7) enjoying the food, music and dancing. | Go to downtown fortcollins.com/documents/5.pdf for a complete schedule.
GRAND JUNCTION
24TH ANNUAL LATIN-ANGLO ALLIANCE CINCO DE MAYO | 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday | Third and Main streets | This small-town celebration has all of the folksy elements of a good street fair, plus the crowning of the Cinco de Mayo Queen at 11:15 a.m. Expect lots of folklorico dancers, along with hip-hop and salsa performances. It all flows into a street dance headlined by Donna Christine y Los Aguilas, 6-11 p.m., $2 cover.
GREELEY
22ND ANNUAL CINCO DE MAYO/SEMANA LATINA CELEBRATION | 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday | Island Grove Event Center, 521 N. 15th Ave. | Call the custom car show the centerpiece of this family-friendly fiesta, but don’t let that distract from the 5K Fun Run/Walk that steps off at 8 a.m. (call 970-351-0700 or visit active.com to register) and a 3-on-3 basketball tournament at the Rodarte Center, 920 A Street (call 970-350-9430) at 10 a.m. Can’t get enough of Mexican wrestling? Check out the Luchando por Independencia celebration of Latino wrestlers, at the Rodarte Center, 7 p.m., $10 at the door. Back at Island Grove and nearby Centennial Village, the schedule is packed with music, folklorico dancers and historic demonstrations. Pencil in the East Memorial Elementary School Mariachi Band performance, 4:30 to 5 p.m. | Go to greeleygov.com for a complete schedule.
PUEBLO
10TH ANNUAL CINCO DE MAYO WEEKEND FIESTA | 6:30 p.m.- 12:30 a.m. Friday | Pueblo Union Depot, 132 W. B St. | 10 a.m.-9 p.m. May 7 | Colorado State Fairgrounds, 1001 Beulah Ave. | This year, organizers scheduled a dance for Friday night and moved all of the family- friendly events to Sunday. Expect folklorico dancing, mariachi music, food and other fun. The event gets going at 7:30 a.m. with 5K and 10K runs, and a 1.5-mile walk (pregister at 719- 564-7685 or walk-up register at 6:30 a.m.).
