Attendance at Cinco de Mayo Festival Dampened by Rain, New Fees : Oxnard: Organizers blame new site, admission fees and late-afternoon rainfall for drop in attendance.

Hundreds of spectators meandered through College Park in Oxnard on Saturday amid the blare of mariachi music and the eager calls of churro vendors for the eighth annual Cinco de Mayo Festival.

For many, the brassy sound of trumpets and the rapid, colorful twirl of dancers’ skirts served as a reminder of the victory their ancestors claimed more than a century ago.

“People really appreciate the battles that our forefathers fought and to this day we’re still celebrating,” said Mena Rios, vice president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the event.

“We’re a freedom-loving nation,” Rios said. “We have always celebrated the victories because they were won with so much struggle and without the help of any other nation. We treasure that freedom.”

Cinco de Mayo is one of the most important dates in Mexican history, commemorating the Battle of Puebla, where about 2,000 men held off the invading French army in 1862.

One of the largest celebrations of Latino culture in Ventura County, this year’s festival was moved from Plaza Park in downtown Oxnard to College Park, near Oxnard College, to accommodate the event’s growing crowds.

But the move and a new admission fee may have deterred some people from attending this year’s festival, vendors and event organizers said.

Admission was $3 for adults, $2 for senior citizens and the disabled, and free for children under 12.

Oxnard police officers and event organizers estimated that about 3,000 to 5,000 people attended the first weekend day of this year’s event. About 20,000 people attended the two-day festival last year, chamber Treasurer John Johnson said.

Johnson said the organization had to charge admission to pay for the use of the park. “We’ve got a fee charged by the county,” he said.

Given the move and threatening clouds, Johnson said he was uncertain if the festival would attract the thousands of people who packed B Street in downtown Oxnard last year.

The festival enjoyed partly sunny skies until about 5 p.m., when dark clouds began dropping small amounts of rain, sending some people home before the evening’s musical performances.

Organizers of the jaripeo, a trick riding and roping show, delayed their 4 p.m. performance because of poor attendance and said they might cancel because of the rain. The jaripeo is scheduled for 3 p.m. today.

Earlier in the day, while chopping lettuce for tacos and tostadas in the cramped quarters of their food booth, Lucia Chavez and Maria Cuevas of Oxnard shared why Cinco de Mayo is an important holiday for them.

“It’s a tradition every year,” Cuevas added, gesturing to the ice cream stands and carnival games. “The music, the food, the rides.”

“No diet today!” Chavez said with a laugh. “There’s all different kinds of people (and) the children learn about our culture.”

In a nearby booth where a giant Mexican flag waved slowly in the breeze, Estella Lopez unpacked her custom-designed T-shirts from a box.

“We’ve created a line of clothes geared toward the Latino community,” she said, folding a white shirt with an Aztec symbol on the front.

Oxnard resident Rodney Saavedra, who travels with his churro and ice cream carts to various weekend festivals, admired Lopez’s creations.

“A lot of them are peace shirts,” he said. “They say, ‘Chicanos don’t fight--unite.’ They send out a positive message.”

Saavedra, a 23-year-old Cal State Northridge student, has sold his sweets at Oxnard’s Cinco de Mayo Festival for three years.

“It brings out the whole community, that’s what I like about it,” he said, adding that the move to College Park and the fee may have kept some people away.

“Before you didn’t have to pay,” he said. “You could stop and hang around. It was like a block party.”

But Oxnard resident Frank Cuevas said he was not deterred by the $3 admission.

“I don’t mind paying as long as my kids have fun and it’s safe,” he said, watching his two 3-year-old daughters spin past on the carousel. “Here there’s a lot more room to do everything.”

One of the festival’s highlights Saturday was a performance of Mexican dances by Ballet Folklorico, a group of Hueneme High School students.

“That’s better than I’ve seen in Mexico,” said Oxnard resident Jan Cooper, watching the girls and boys twirl and stomp on a temporary stage.

“It’s something from my culture and something I enjoy,” said 17-year-old Norma Juaregui, one of 12 dancers who performed Saturday.

“We do different dances, some from El Norte and another from Jalisco and Veracruz,” she said. “Every time we learn a new dance, we learn a new culture.”

Dolores Reyes, the group’s instructor, tries to teach her students about the traditions of Mexico through dance.

“I tell them this (dance) is from Chihuahua, one of the most important states during the revolution,” she said, gesturing to a dance the youths were performing at that moment. “I have to tell them of these things . . . I think we need to talk more about our customs and our traditions.”

The Cinco de Mayo performances are the students’ way of educating people about their heritage and participating in an important cultural holiday, Norma said.

“It is one day that we don’t forget,” she said.

FYI

The Cinco de Mayo festival continues today from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at College Park in Oxnard. Entertainment includes the musical group Nuestro performing Latin jazz and salsa at 4:30 p.m., and singer Yolanda del Rio at 7 p.m. The jaripeo, which costs $15, will be at 3 p.m.