Organizers of the annual Cinco De Mayo celebration in south Omaha are bracing for big crowds this weekend along historic south 24th Street.
Marcos Mora says this year they will be using crowd barricades for the first time because the number of people who line up to watch it continue to get bigger. The parade will begin at 10:00 Saturday morning and will have around 120 entries.
In addition to the parade, a full carnival with rides and midway games, more than 20 food vendors and a beer garden with live music will be set up. There will also be activities just for children ages 2 to 10.
Since the first local Cinco de Mayo was organized decades ago as a small South Omaha celebration concurrent to celebrations in Mexican-American communities throughout the U.S., the Omaha event has grown into a full-fledged festival and a destination for people of all cultural backgrounds.
Attendance continues to increase. Mora says the 2019 festival is expected to welcome over 100,000 visitors from the community, eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa as well as surrounding states.
For more information on the festival go to www.cincodemayoomaha.com.