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Stockton’s Cinco de Mayo Multicultural Festival and Parade will take place Sunday at the city’s Weber Point Events Center.
The free outdoor celebration has been a San Joaquin Valley tradition for nearly three decades and will be hosted from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. by El Concilio, a nonprofit organization that offers a multitude of services primarily to the Hispanic population of the Central Valley.
More than 22 food vendors will be at the event filling the air with the smell of enchiladas, tacos, burritos, burgers, fries and other Hispanic treats.
Attendees can also expect over 100 artisan and vendor booths, entertainment consisting of live performances and a multicultural cross-section of music and dance, a lowrider car show and sport activities for kids.
The parade will begin at 11 a.m. with a new route that will end at the Weber Point festival entrance with spaces being limited.
According to El Concilio, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day, which falls on Sept. 16, but remains a notable day because of its history.
The nonprofit said Mexico, which was an economically struggling country, was intervened for the second time by the French, which wanted to gain control under the rule of Napoleon III.
French General Charles de Lorencez had directed his army toward the capital of Mexico City hoping to overthrow Benito Juarez, who was president of Mexico at the time.
However, the army encountered heavy resistance, which became the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. The Mexican army won the battle and four days later, the president of Mexico declared Cinco de Mayo a national holiday.
Prior to the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the Cinco de Mayo parade was attended by more than 21,000 visitors in 2019.
The event will be located at 221 N. Center St.
Victoria Franco is a reporter based in Stockton covering San Joaquin County for Bay City News Foundation and its nonprofit news site Local News Matters. She is a Report for America corps member.
