The number of cruisers on Federal Boulevard during the Cinco de Mayo weekend was unusually light thanks to rain and broadcasts of the Oscar de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather boxing match, police say.
“It was the weather and the fight,” said Virginia Quiñones, Denver police spokeswoman.
In the past, hundreds of citations have been written and at least 100 arrests made among Federal Boulevard cruisers from West Florida Avenue to 38th Avenue.
On Saturday, Denver police issued 68 traffic tickets, made 79 arrests and issued seven warnings on Federal, Quiñones said. Friday night, there were 40 tickets, 23 arrests and nine warnings, she said.
In Civic Center park on Sunday, the annual celebration drew a modest crowd under gray skies.
Monique Cordova and her 15-year-old daughter Natasha Sena went to the park with Two-Edged Sword, a Christian group from Arvada, with a mission to minister to others.
They wore clear plastic ponchos to keep dry.
“My faith in the Lord brought me out here,” Cordova said. “I’m surprised people are still here in the rain.”
At a booth under a blue tarp, salesman Ebu Thioune lamented the rain and the thin crowd as he tried to sell novelty T-shirts and CDs.
“It would be better if it did not rain because it hurts my business,” he said. “It did suffer. Usually, there are hundreds, no, thousands of people.”
As the sun peeked through clouds, Thioune tried to be optimistic.
“Maybe it will be better now,” he said.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
