{"id":245043,"date":"2012-04-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-27T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/fiesta-old-town-returning-for-cinco-de-mayo\/"},"modified":"2012-04-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-27T07:00:00","slug":"fiesta-old-town-returning-for-cinco-de-mayo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/fiesta-old-town-returning-for-cinco-de-mayo\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiesta Old Town regresa para el Cinco de Mayo"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Marc \u201cMookie\u201d Kaczor | SDUN Reporter<\/strong>

\"Fiesta<\/a>
Photo courtesy of Fiesta De Reyes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

The 29th annual Fiesta Old Town celebration, organized by the Historic Old Town Community Foundation, will celebrate Cinco de Mayo and Mexican culture at the site historians refer to as \u201cthe birthplace of America.\u201d <\/p>\n

Old Town San Diego is where missionary Jun\u00edpero Serra established the first mission in an effort to colonize California and the original territory of the Kumeyaay nation. Fiesta Old Town is one of the largest Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the western United States.<\/p>\n

Lehn Goetz, Historic Old Town Community Foundation board president and proprietor of Old Town\u2019s Caf\u00e9 Coyote said, \u201cWith San Diego being so close to the border, it\u2019s only natural to have such a multi-cultural and educational event here.\u201d <\/p>\n

Old Town resident Martha Steinman-Gutierrez has attended the Cinco de Mayo festivities every year since her move from Texas 10 years ago. \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful event designed to educate and inform,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are too many people who still think Cinco de Mayo is all about drinking, partying and carrying on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goetz agreed with Steinman-Gutierrez\u2019s sentiment, saying, \u201cWe must not lose sight of the history of Cinco de Mayo. Our event will no doubt be an educational experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beer and tequila lovers will not be excluded. \u201cAdults in attendance can enjoy certain libations from the\u2026 beer garden to the fruits of the agave,\u201d Goetz said. <\/p>\n

Restaurants, retailers and museums in Historic Old Town will participate in the festivities, and vendors will sell handmade leather pieces, jewelry and other traditional items on San Diego Avenue. The event will have three outdoor stages featuring live music from authentic mariachis, Spanish-speaking rock bands and DJs spinning dance music.<\/p>\n

The children\u2019s area will have a carnival atmosphere with a petting zoo and pony rides. There will be stagecoaches, Lucha Libre-style wrestling matches, soccer tutorials with professional soccer players, custom lowrider cars and a re-enactment of the \u201cBatalla de Puebla,\u201d or \u201cBattle of Puebla.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of the \u201cBatalla de Puebla,\u201d Napoleon III, along with English and Spanish military forces, had a presence in Mexico. After the English and Spanish withdrew, Napoleon III decided to keep his forces in Mexico with the intent of colonizing and eventually bringing the French empire south of the United States. In May 1862, the French army engaged in battle with \u2013 and was defeated by \u2013 5,000 Mestizo and Zapotec Native Americans. May 5 is the day that marks the Mexican victory of the Battle.<\/p>\n

The kickoff for the festival includes a Freestyle Moto X demonstration and a performance by the Misa Azteca choir. Gates open at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 4, marking the first year the celebration will be three days long. Previously, the festival only spanned Saturday and Sunday. <\/p>\n

Additionally, participants can purchase two-for-one COASTER tickets that apply to May 5 and 6. If participants purchase one ticket on a COASTER train, which runs from North County through Old Town, a second ticket is free. <\/p>\n

The free, three-day celebration continues May 5 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and May 6 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information visit fiestaoldtown.com<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Marc \u201cMookie\u201d Kaczor | SDUN Reporter The 29th annual Fiesta Old Town celebration, organized by the Historic Old Town Community Foundation, will celebrate Cinco de Mayo and Mexican culture at the site historians refer to as \u201cthe birthplace of America.\u201d Old Town San Diego is where missionary Jun\u00edpero Serra established the first mission in […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1349,"featured_media":245044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Fiesta Old Town returning for Cinco de Mayo","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1349"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}