Bridgeton Prepares for Cinco de Mayo Celebration
BY CLYDE HUGHES | AC JosepH Media
BRIDGETON – The City of Bridgeton will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo with family fun, food, traditional dance and music, along with a Mexican cultural flair that was originally meant for the celebration on Sunday, May 4.
Stephanie Gonzalez, the coordinator of Bridgeton’s Urban Enterprise Zone, said Cinco de Mayo will be just one of the handful of events they will be involved with this year. The event will take place in Downtown Bridgeton Sunday afternoon from noon-7 p.m.
Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican Army’s victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. In the United States, the recognition had come to celebrate Mexican American heritage and culture, often with parades, music, and food.
Some around the country had complained that the Cinco de Mayo had lost in original meaning with increased commercialization. Gonzalez told Front Runner New Jersey that the Bridgeton’s celebration to get back to the roots of the observance.
“We’re really excited about Cinco de Mayo and want the entire community to take part in the celebration,” Gonzalez said. “We will have events for the children like face painting, a bouncy house, free go-karts and games. We will have traditional Mexican dance and music and other ways we are sharing the culture.
“We will have vendors and food trucks. We will have a photographer so people can have pictures. We want to make sure that everyone is included.”
According to the latest U.S. Census figures, one-quarter of Bridgeton’s population is Hispanic and 40% is African American. In the Bridgeton School District, which covers areas just outside the city, 75% of the students identify themselves as Latino.
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