Mexican Fiesta....it's been too long!
Colorfully dressed dancers, Dia de Los Muertos figures, music, art, crafts and...freebies? Why yes! The whole freakin' fiesta is full of booth after booth giving away free stuff! We walked out of this festival with t-shirts from David Gruber Law Offices, flavored popcorn and cupcake pops from Classy Girl Cupcakes, turkey leg shaped stress balls from the USDA, free can koozies from La Preferida, free nachos from Goya and many other assorted items. The best, though, was the free selfie sticks and ear buds from Verizon.
Hubs even won a $50 Target gift card from an insurance company!
We ordered a plate of tacos and a burrito from the La Perla booth. I had been warned that they weren't worth it, but I wanted to try them for myself. The detractors were right. I ordered no lettuce and my tacos came loaded with the stuff. The lines were so long and I already had quite a wait for the food, so I just took the food to a picnic table and scraped off as much as I could. Of course, by the time I finished, my food was cold and, add to that, flavorless, so, while edible, not up to par for ANY food vendor. Hubs was not impressed with his burrito, either (lacking in flavor). I ordered a soda when I got the food, but I noticed people walking around with pineapples with an umbrella and straw sticking out of them. It turns out those were Pina Coladas and were something like $12-$14 each. We were on our way out of the festival at that point, so no booze cup made out of fruit for me! :(
The music was all on the traditional side (Mariachi and Tejano).....it would have been nice to hear more variety, but maybe that happens at night...we were there during the afternoon. Nevertheless, it was upbeat and people were dancing. At one point, we stumbled upon a group performing a traditional (read native) dance to the sound of drums.
There were a variety of things to purchase rather than the kid-centric crap one usually sees at other ethnic fairs and festivals. In addition to the religious iconography and peasant blouses and jewelry, there was rustic styled decor, artists selling their paintings, tooled leather purses and wallets and a couple other artisans actually making items to order, right in front of the customer.
Representatives from ancestry.com and familysearch.org were also there to assist visitors in beginning their family tree search.
I haven't been to Mexican Fiesta for years, but I think that it is time to get this festival back into the rotation. Thanks to Yelp for the complimentary tickets and for reopening my eyes to yet another of this city's great venues!
125/2015 read more