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At the restaurant Bodega in the heart of Fairfield’s downtown, Cinco de Mayo is not just a one day celebration. It also lasted all weekend. Patrons started their celebrations Friday, May 2, with a beanbag toss competitions and piñatas.
On the day itself, Bodega hosted a taco eating-contest, followed by live music and more beanbag competitions.
“It’s been an awesome weekend,” said Bodega manager Joseph DiMarte, of Black Rock. “It’s like St. Paddy’s Day. Anytime there is an excuse for people to have fun, I think they’ll take it.”
For waitress and Fairfield native Molly Cavanaugh, work has been the calendar for Cinco de Mayo for the last three years. She said it’s been a while since she has had time to celebrate the day.
“My friends and I would make margaritas and fajitas,” Cavanaugh said. But she said it's funny that Cinco de Mayo is celebrated as the Mexican Independence Day, when it really marks the Mexican win at the Battle of Puebla, when the Mexican army beat the French.
“A lot of the kitchen staff is from Puebla,” she said. “So they’re really into it.”
For those celebrating, the day is mostly about eating Mexican food and having fun. Most do that by having tacos and margaritas with friends, including Vicky a senior at Sacred Heart University.
The fact that the holiday is on a Monday doesn’t bother her too much mainly because she’s still in college, she says.
“But I’d still go out probably after work” next year for the occasion after she graduates, Gaulin said.
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