Hermiston’s annual Cinco de Mayo celebration on Sunday was the biggest yet, but organizers have plans to make the party twice as big in years to come.
Thousands of people filled the downtown streets of Hermiston to take part in the day-long event that commemorates Mexico’s defeat of the French army that had invaded Mexico.
This was the third year in a row in which the celebration was held in the downtown area and attendees were treated to food, beverages and entertainment throughout the day.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and I come pretty much every year,” said Fatima Ortega. “I really like the shows they put on. They bring bands in and I love watching everyone dance around.”
New this year was a carnival, horse dancing competition and a Cinco de Mayo pageant. Jose Lopez was a fan of the dancing horses.
“”We’re here every year,” he said. “We love the horse dancing. It’s pretty cool.”
“We want this to be the second biggest event in Hermiston after the fair and rodeo,” de la Cruz said. “We want to double it in size so we’re planning on stretching out over two days next year.”
Hermiston Parks and Recreation Director Larry Fetter said organizers have worked hard to make it an event the public looks forward to each year.
“They’ve done a real good job of making this a real community tradition,” Fetter said. “It just keeps getting bigger. We outgrew Main Street the first year.”
The crowd was steady throughout the early hours before it began to swell later in the day.
“When the temperature cools down and people get out of church, it really gets busy down here,” de la Cruz said. He was also pleased to see a more diverse crowd on Sunday.
“We’re seeing a lot more Anglos coming out,” he said. “We want this to be for the whole community.”
Meanwhile, food vendors were keeping busy serving up tasty treats for the crowd.
“We’ve been coming here every year since were little,” said Veronica Cisneros. “My favorite thing about the festival is the goodies.” Anna Cisneros agreed.
“Where else can you go and find so many different Mexican treats?” she asked.
