A Fiesta for All

Nothing says fun like an 11-year-old girl whaling the heck out of a pinata.

With a series of whacks worthy of attention from Dodger scouts, Maria Castillo delivered her wrath on a purple cardboard satellite hanging over a small crowd at the Fiesta Broadway street fair in downtown Los Angeles, spilling candy onto the ground and sending an appreciative murmur rippling through the ranks of her awed supporters.

As she strode away from the mortally wounded pinata to rejoin her friends in the children’s play area--one of several features added to the fiesta this year to expand its popularity with families--she confessed that she is no novice pinata-basher.

“I practice on a tetherball at home,” she confided.

Perhaps not everyone who attended the eighth annual event took their fun so seriously.

Many of the about 150,000 who attended what is billed as the nation’s largest Cinco de Mayo celebration--commemorating Mexican soldiers’ 1862 rout of French invaders--were simply out for a good time. Some lined up for free goodies ranging from Alka-Seltzer tablets to fluorescent 12-inch rulers, while others enjoyed live music, presented on seven stages that turned much of downtown into a daylong carnival.

When kids had their fill of pinatas, they could check out the expanded game booths offering an array of stuffed toy prizes.

For the grown-ups, there were performances by top Latino entertainers, including soap opera star and singer Thalia and Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Marco Antonio Solis.

At about 5 p.m., a crowd of some 17,000 went wild when Thalia took the main stage wearing a green transparent raincoat over a yellow bikini. Police in riot gear stood by, and although some members of the crowd climbed fences for a better look, no arrests were reported.

Elsewhere in the 36-square-block fiesta, thousands shuffled along the sidewalks, seeking shade and shelter from skyrocketing temperatures. Many parents threw sheets over baby strollers to keep their children out of the sun. Others carried umbrellas.

Many reveled in the freebies--even though the lines were long.

Maria Rio of Orange waited patiently with her two kids, ages 4 and 5, looking for a soda, a lemonade, something.

“I could buy them drinks,” she said. “But since they’re free. . . .”

Gregorio Rafael, 52, waited with his son and three grandchildren for 15 minutes to get some free packs of Cap ‘n Crunch cereal from the Quaker Oats booth. Rafael said they didn’t care much about the lines, but that it was “a little hot.”

John Albin, 38, approached the Quaker Oats line with a bottle of free salsa already in his pocket. He didn’t know what sort of cereal awaited him at the end, but didn’t seem to care.

“Our main participation here,” he said, gesturing to a companion, “is to pick up girls. Even if they didn’t have any free stuff, I’d come.”

While their customers wilted in the 82-degree heat, marketers smiled from scores of canopied booths, hawking auto insurance, credit cards, mouthwash and other products.

For hungry visitors, vendors offered taquitos and refried beans, carne asada and tacos. At one booth, shoppers tried to toss wooden rings over a bottle of mayonnaise to win a hat or a flying disk.

Not far from the Los Ninos Play Park on 9th Street, a line of soccer parents waited with their kids to see members of the Los Angeles Galaxy team.

Peter Bellas, one of the festival’s organizers, said the team initially couldn’t attend because it was supposed to play Sunday. But at the request of AT&T;, the festival’s chief sponsor, the soccer league rescheduled the game, he said.

Amid the bustle of the corporate bazaar, a few people wanted to use the festival as a platform for civic involvement.

Joseph R. Romo sat at a table on Broadway and beckoned passersby to register to vote. He wasn’t having much success, signing up only seven people by midmorning.

“The buildup for the [Proposition] BB vote was awesome,” Romo said, referring to the $2.4-billion Los Angeles school bond measure passed this month with heavy support from Latino voters. “Latinos are the ones who determined the outcome of that. We’ve got to continue the momentum.”

As he talked with a reporter, he called out to half a dozen men and women walking by, asking them if they had registered. Each of them said no, then walked on.

“A lot of them are not citizens,” he said. “But a lot of people are becoming citizens. That’s why I ask everybody.”

At 150,000, the fiesta’s attendance roughly matched last year’s--but was down sharply from the 300,000 who jammed the streets in 1995.

“We’re at risk [financially], but we think we’ve got a great event,” said Bellas of All Access Entertainment, which produced the fiesta.

Cerritos College student Cynthia Orellana, 23, would agree with the “great event” part of that assessment. She scored a Revlon makeup kit, some perfume and a tiny vial of shampoo.

“It’s fun to come with the whole family to celebrate,” she said.