Cinco De Mayo!

Today is Cinco de Mayo, a major celebration of Mexican American culture here in the U.S., but curiously enough, not celebrated very much in Mexico. It marks the anniversary of the 1862 victory by Mexican troops over the French at the Battle of Puebla. While they do commemorate the victory each year in Puebla, the celebration actually began in Columbia, California back in 1862. The event gained nationwide recognition starting in the 1980s, thanks to advertising by beer, wine, and tequila companies. And it is definitely a major holiday here in Denver, where there is a 2-day Cinco de Mayo festival held every year in Civic Center Park, which I attended yesterday afternoon, and took the photograph on the left, with the Colorado State Capitol in the background.

One of the big draws, of course, is all the food and drink (mainly beer, wine, and tequila, to no one's surprise) available at the festival, in addition to booths selling merchandise, non-profits offering services, and local government agencies there for public relations or looking for employees. And by the way, just to let you know, if you want to join the Aurora, Colorado police or Denver Sheriff Department, now is your big chance. As for the food booths, the majority were serving Mexican items, such as in the photograph on the right, although there were exceptions, including a booth selling Giant Turkey Legs. I have seen these Giant Turkey Legs booths at Cinco de Mayo, the Taste of Colorado, Denver's Oktoberfest Celebration, and the Breckenridge Oktoberfest, too, and have speculated that they just freeze the leftovers after each festival and reheat them at the next. But still delicious, no doubt.

One of the highlights of the Cinco de Mayo festival in Civic Center Park are the musical acts. The one in the photograph on the left featured traditional Mexican music and dance. There was another stage where rock and roll and rap was being performed, but I noticed the crowd for those acts were not nearly as large. You could tell by the enthusiasm of the performers that this was a really important day for them, and it looked like they were having a lot of fun. There were also lowrider cars, most from the 1950s, on display, too. Lowriders are also a part of Mexican culture, and this weekend it is a tradition for cars - and not just lowriders - to cruise down Denver's Federal Boulevard, honking horns, blasting music out the windows, and other such hijinks. The Denver Police have reduced Federal to one lane this weekend, to allow first responders to get through. I myself once found myself driving down Federal one Cinco de Mayo weekend and wound up crawling down that street for about 5 miles or so, unable to even turn off at a cross-street. Never again - I'd rather eat a giant turkey leg.