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Cinco de Mayo festival moving to Main Street for 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Lewisville’s sixth annual Cinco de Mayo will be held Saturday, May 3, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Main Street in the heart of Old Town Lewisville.
Organized by Dallas Tortilla and Tamale Factory and sponsored by the City of Lewisville and Miller of Denton, the event will include music, food, arts and crafts, vehicle displays, boxing exhibitions and more. The Old Town Farmers Market will be held in one part of the festival area from 8 a.m. until sell-out.
“Anyone who has attended one of the past Cinco de Mayo festivals can tell you that it is just a really fun event for the entire family,” said Lewisville Mayor Gene Carey. “Moving the festival to Main Street will let people enjoy not only the food and music, but the historic atmosphere of our restored Old Town. I encourage everyone to join me in celebrating the colors and flavors of this event.”
The festival previously has been held on Mill and Whatley streets in Old Town, a few blocks south of the historic district’s core on Main Street. This year’s move is intended to create a stronger festival identification and expose festival attendees to the revitalized atmosphere of Old Town.
“We are very excited to take this growing event to Main Street, which is the very personification of American business and ideals,” said event chairwoman Rebecca Behnke, operator of Dallas Tortilla & Tamale Factory on Mill Street.
“People have always loved to go down to Main Street on a Saturday afternoon and stroll down the street, window shop, catch up with a neighbor, have a bite to eat. Moving Cinco de Mayo over to Main Street will only enhance the event, bring in even more people and open the event up to a premier location.”
The event is free to the public. Visitors are asked to make a donation of $1 to the Cinco De Mayo Scholarship Fund, or bring canned food and household paper goods for Christian Community Action. Festival organizers hope to raise enough money to present at least two $500 college scholarships to graduating Lewisville ISD students of Mexican descent. Seven such scholarships have been awarded during the past five years.
Cinco de Mayo is a commemoration of the Battle of Puebla, which was fought on May 5, 1862. On that day, an army of 4,000 Mexican nationalists defeated a French-commanded army of more than 8,000 men. That victory launched a campaign that eventually drove the French out of Mexico and restored Mexican independence (which is celebrated in Mexico on Sept. 16). Many historians also credit the victory in Puebla with keeping the French army in Mexico from joining the Confederate forces in the Civil War.
Festival sponsors and volunteers are still needed. For event information, please call 972.436.4333 or visit www.cityoflewisville.com.
Media contact: Festival Chairwoman Rebecca Behnke, 972.436.4333
