Cinco De Mayo Celebrations in Idaho Falls is at a new location
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - The annual celebration of Cinco De Mayo has a new location but promises the same amount of fun. The celebration promises to celebrate diversity and culture here in the Idaho Falls area. Organizers of the event share the importance of the holiday for the Latino Community in Idaho Falls.
"We are very excited to celebrate our cultural diversity with, the Idaho Falls community. You know, this is the first time to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, here in Sandy Downs. Most of the time, we have celebrated Cinco de Mayo, at Tautphus for the last 25 years. We are excited, we are excited to have fun here in Idaho Falls," Sergio Romero one of the event's organizers shared.
"We celebrate Cinco de Mayo for it really for just gathering together. And it was originally for, a celebration of the Battle of Puebla. And this is not the independence of Mexico. That's in September, but for right now, for us here, like, I'm not even from Mexico and many of our people, they are helping us put this together on that, even from Mexico. We just wanted to bring this up so that everybody can have a chance to experience a little bit of a taste of, Latin culture and have you guys just enjoy it," Claudia Beck another one of the event's organizers shared.
People who were taking in the celebration shared how much fun they were having at the event.
"We've gone every year. We love coming out and celebrating Cinco de Mayo. We love it. The food. We love the music. The dancers are always fabulous," Tamara Bailey said.
"I think it's great that we get to have a lot of diversity in different foods and like, celebrate, different parts of Mexico and oh, I don't know the different food that they have across the country. And we can have a little of that here, you know? So for me, it's the first time it's great. And all the dancers, like the singers, they were doing a great job as well. So I thought it was super cool," Anyelen Bailey said.
"For me it's it's pretty cool. I've been quite a few times, so I feel like I'm pretty familiar with, the Hispanic culture here in Idaho Falls. but it's always a lot of fun to come out and get everyone together at the Cinco de Mayo Celebration," Bralen Bailey said.
"We have Latino roots, so my family's from Spain, my husband's from Peru. And so every year we try to come out and see what there is and just kind of support our local vendors," Laurie Boza said.
Many also shared it was nice to see how diverse the area is.
"We try to always keep our culture and eat our Latino food, but no, there's we were surprised when we moved to Idaho Falls about 11 years ago how much diversity there is. We were expecting just kind of farmland and cowboys. And when we got here, when we saw so many Spanish speaking people and just such a huge Latino community, and so it's actually been really nice to find all that diversity here," Boza shared.
"I think it's really important to have all different cultures kind of represented. in Idaho Falls. I think it makes it a more diverse community. And that just kind of adds to the lifestyle here in Idaho Falls," Bralen shared.
"So celebrating with my students and the students that share their culture with me. And then I get to come out here and celebrate with them. That's always been a lot of fun," Tamara said.
The Mayor of Idaho Falls was also in attendance and shared how excited the city is to have the celebration here in Idaho Falls.
"It is a wonderful thing to, have. We have a large segment of our population that is Hispanic. We're about 15% Hispanic, which is a good, good concentration, for this population. And the fact that they have, this day to commemorate the contributions not just of Mexico, but to celebrate Hispanic culture is a wonderful thing for us," Mayor Rebecca Casper said.
The celebration at Sandy Downs ends at 7 p.m. on Sunday.
