Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Portales plans Cinco de Mayo event

PORTALES — The City of Portales’ Cinco de Mayo celebration may be taking place on May 6 this year, but the festivities will be no less enjoyable, according to Deputy City Clerk Veda Urioste.

“You hear all the time, ‘There’s nothing to do.’ We try to put together things to do,” Urioste said. “All the festivities that cultural affairs puts together is for the entire community. It’s not for any certain ethnicity, any age group, anything. They’re all family oriented celebrations, and so everyone in the community is welcome to attend.”

The festivities will take place at City Park, and will kick off with a car and bike show at 10 a.m., Urioste said, adding that registration for all vehicles will take place at 9 a.m.

Everything else will begin at 1 p.m., she said, and will end around 5 p.m.

Live music will be in full effect at the event, with a band — Randy Chavez y Sol — and accordion player Luciano Rodriguez regaling attendees all day.

A group of students from La Casita Elementary School in Clovis will perform traditional Mexican Folklorico dancing at 3 p.m., a spectacle Urioste said attendees should see for themselves.

Booths offering toys to children, as well as food courtesy of Los Pilares, will be on-site. All food purchases will benefit the City of Portales Cultural Affairs.

“Cultural affairs from the city is really trying to put things together,” Urioste said. “ We can’t make people come out to our festivities. We just have to sit back and hope that they come and participate. We can only do what we can do, and hope that we get the participation that we would really like to have out there.”

For information, contact Urioste at 575-356-6662.

Also, a Cinco de Mayo Fiesta will be held at St. Helen Catholic Church in Portales 5:30 p.m.-8 p.m. Friday in the parish hall.

The funds raised from the Cinco de Mayo dinner will be used to defray costs for the parish’s main fundraiser, the St. Helen’s Fiesta in September.

“This fundraiser is a preliminary event,” said Emma Britton, the chair of St. Helen’s Fiesta committee. “This is our first time (hosting a dinner); last year we had a garage sale.”

The committee will serve an $8 enchilada dinner with to-go plates available.

— Staff Writer Stephanie Losoya contributed to this report