BY THE NUMBERS:
41 booths
4 dance groups
6 bands
Music floating from De Leon Plaza could be heard three blocks away during the Cinco de Mayo celebration Saturday.
Alyssa Garcia, 9, and Marissa Garcia, 7 - dressed in matching full red, white and green dance skirts with white ruffled collars - paused for pictures at the top of the moon bounce slide with their brother, Rene Garcia, 5, before sliding down, giggling all the way.
"Cinco de Mayo is a great time I get to spend with my kids," said their mother, Dominique Cisneros, of Victoria. "And a time to pass down traditions."
The costumes Alyssa and Marissa wore were similar to the ones Cisneros used to wear when she danced on the River Walk in San Antonio as a little girl, she said.
Other moon bounces included baseball and basketball games and mazes.
The fragrance of cotton candy, kettle corn, funnel cakes, corn dogs and burritos hovered over the plaza where people flooded the streets and dotted the grass with lawn chairs and picnic blankets. Children blew bubbles and played with knicknacks they purchased from the booths.
The booths along the perimeter of the square featured woodwork, crafts, games, local businesses and food.
Janie Garcia, 48, of Victoria, said Cinco de Mayo is a good time to get together with old friends and relatives she hasn't seen in a while.
"And the food - that's what I come out for," Garcia said. "And the entertainment."
Garcia sat in a red canopied lawn chair and watched her daughter, Amelia Ordonez, 9, color a craft she purchased at one of the booths while she listened to one of the bands perform.
The VISD Ballet Folklorico, East High Hip Hop Dancers and two groups of Zumba dancers entertained the crowd as well as six bands performed, including Chente Barrera and Bob Gallarza and Jimmy Edwards.
Celina Yoast, 34, of Victoria, said as a little girl she used to look forward to watching the Ballet Folklorico dancers at the annual Cinco de Mayo celebration.
Now, as she ate a burrito on the steps of the Victoria County Courthouse with family and friends, she enjoyed listening to the bands perform.
"They had a Mariachi band this year and Zumba dancers," Yoast said. While the Zumba dancers were impressive, Yoast said she wished she had come early enough to see the Ballet Folklorico perform again.
Since the festivities were moved from the park to downtown, entertainment coordinator Mario Vallejo said the event had a great turn out.
"It's been a lot of good clean family fun so far," Vallejo said. "We're hoping to have even more people come out after it gets dark."
The proceeds from the fiesta goes toward scholarships to Victoria College and University of Houston Victoria through the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
No comments:
Post a Comment