MONTE VISTA - On May 4, the main streets of Monte Vista were rocking with spicy music, dancing, delicious Mexican food, a fabulous car show, and many vendors at the Fourth Annual Cinco de Mayo Street Festival in Monte Vista.
The event was organized by the OptiMystics Citizen’s Action Network and will be donating more than $2,500 to three local nonprofits.
OptiMystics president Adam Lock was excited about the festival and said, “My favorite part of the festival was seeing the crowds and people gathered round, enjoying the various performances put on throughout the day. This kind of positive community engagement is a key piece to successful events like the Cinco de Mayo Street Festival. We are thankful to those who participated and helped host these mini events.”
This year’s festival had a variety of activities. The Monte Vista Mini Cheerleaders performed at the event.
There was a Canine Costume Contest held compliments of Muddy Paws. There was a dog race held in front of the Pivot Public House.
This year there were also cultural talks held at the Vali 3 Theater.
Dustin Sigaty of Monte Vista attended the festival.
“The costume contest had a pretty good turnout in all three categories small, medium, and large dogs. I particularly liked the cowpoke dog and the sunflower dog. The presentation by El Llamade Hispano was great. They showed off traditional Mexican clothing, music and dancing and offered a historical perspective on the significance of Cinco de Mayo. All these events provided a lot of ‘meat’ to the celebration,” he said.
The car show was also a big hit at Cinco de Mayo. The overall winner of the car show was TJ Atencio.
Atencio was excited about the win and said, “It’s a nice car show. Feels good to be here.”
There were at least 30 participants at the car show. Richard Garcia of the Poor Boy Car Club was also at the show, and said, “The car shows are always great, and it’s wonderful that the OptiMystics are donating to so many great causes this year too.”
This year the OptiMystics donated to three organizations, beyond the cost of operating the Cinco de Mayo Street Festival, including the Monte Vista Ambulance Service, Conour Animal Shelter, and the Monte Vista Emergency Food Bank. Funds will be dispersed over the next few weeks. Monte Vista Ambulance will receive $100, Conour Animal Shelter will receive $380, and the Monte Vista Food Bank will receive $2,131.
-Although the festival had a little bit of rain, it was a big success according to Lawrence Roy Aiken who was the emcee at the festival.
“A heavy rainstorm couldn’t put this year's Cinco de Mayo's fire out. I’m most impressed with how we recovered. We also learned a lot about what we could do with the layout along Second Avenue. Getting a local landmark like the Stars and Strikes Bowling Alley and the Pivot Public House involved this year also made things really special,” Aiken said.
When asked if there will be a festival next year, OptiMystics vice president Mark Renshaw said, “We hope we'll be able to continue the Cinco de Mayo Street Festival in downtown Monte Vista, because, after all it was started to bring people downtown, and that wouldn't happen if it was held in a park. This is our 4th Cinco de Mayo Festival and I hope it will continue for years to come. It's an accomplished feeling when you see so many people enjoying themselves and raising funds for a good cause at the same time."
