The Brief<\/p>\n
The third annual downtown San Jose Cinco de Mayo festival drew crowds Sunday to celebrate Mexican culture through food, dance, and tradition.<\/p>\n
The event featured local Latino-owned businesses, Folklorico dancers, and Lucha Libre wrestling performances.<\/p>\n
Local entrepreneurs used the celebration to showcase handcrafted goods and authentic family recipes that honor their heritage.<\/p>\n
SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose residents gathered downtown on Sunday to celebrate the city\u2019s third annual Cinco de Mayo festival, an event dedicated to honoring Mexican culture, craftsmanship, and community roots.<\/p>\n
A cultural event for the community<\/p>\n
Local perspective<\/p>\n
The festivities kicked off with traditional Folklorico dancers and high-energy Lucha Libre wrestling, which drew cheers from the crowd.<\/p>\n
Beyond the entertainment, the festival served as a vital platform for local Latino-owned businesses to showcase their goods.<\/p>\n
For many vendors, the festival is another way to turn personal heritage into a professional calling.<\/p>\n
What they’re saying<\/p>\n
Christine Caballero, owner of Casa de Artesano y Mas, began her business during the COVID-19 pandemic. What started with embroidered face masks eventually expanded into a full clothing shop after encouragement from her community.<\/p>\n
“It feels amazing,” Caballero said, noting she has participated in the festival for the past three years. “I think it\u2019s a nice experience because while a lot of people are ashamed of their roots, the people that do bring it out\u2014I love that they are not shy about it.”<\/p>\n
That sense of cultural pride was a recurring theme for attendees like Vanessa Hearne, who brought her family to the event to ensure the next generation remains connected to their history.<\/p>\n
“I like them to be close to their roots, and so we\u2019re excited to see all the stuff that the Latino community is doing,” Hearne said.<\/p>\n
Don’t forget the spread<\/p>\n
Digging in<\/p>\n
The connection to heritage was also evident in the festival’s food offerings.<\/p>\n
Melissa Saucedo, who has owned Pitayas Locas for four years, specializes in handmade Aguas frescas and other items made from scratch.<\/p>\n
She attributes her culinary inspiration to childhood memories of her grandmother\u2019s kitchen and the scent of brewing caf\u00e9 de olla.<\/p>\n
“Everything that we make is with love,” Saucedo said. “We celebrate this holiday because it\u2019s our heritage.”<\/p>\n
For business owners and families alike, the downtown celebration provided a space to center culture and connection around family, a value many participants said shines particularly bright during Cinco de Mayo.<\/p>\n
The Source<\/p>\n
Interviews with attendees and vendors at San Jose’s third annual Cinco de Mayo festival<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief The third annual downtown San Jose Cinco de Mayo festival drew crowds Sunday to celebrate Mexican…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[124453,127035,4978,127032,113654,127033,116516,127034,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-300171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-cinco-de-mayo","tag-community-roots","tag-downtown-san-jose","tag-folklorico-dancers","tag-local-entrepreneurs","tag-lucha-libre","tag-mexican-culture","tag-personal-heritage","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}