First Cinco de Mayo celebration coming to Othello

OTHELLO — Othello’s recently formed Hispanic Committee will be partnering with the Othello Rotary Club to put on the city’s first Cinco de Mayo celebration May 4 at Lions Park. The free festivities will go from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Committee member Sulema Martinez outlined what will happen during the event. 

“We'll have a parade in the morning at 10 a.m. We'll have Little League players in our parade as well for their opening day,” she said. “After our parade, we will go over to Lions Park and we will have food vendors, informational booths, merchandise. We'll have a car show going on from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and then starting at 11, all day we'll have activities for families and kids to be able to do as well. Then from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. we will have dancers and musical groups performing as well.”

Sulema Martinez said the dancers will be local groups.

“We actually have the third and fourth graders from Lutacaga performing. They will be dancing, and then the two (dance) groups that we have are local to Othello and they will be performing as well,” she said. “We will also be doing a crowning of Miss Cinco de Mayo, Miss Quinceanera and Miss Little Future Quinceanera.”

Committee member and Othello Food Bank Director Jose Garza explained how the committee and the Cinco de Mayo event began, with Rural Development Initiative’s leadership program last year.

“When RDI first came into Othello, they were asking a group of us, ‘what are some things that Othello kind of lacks or needs,’” Garza said. “One of the themes was some cultural events or events for the community.”

The event should help with the lack of Hispanic cultural events in Othello.

“We don't really do much, and a lot of the events that are going on are usually in Royal City, Moses Lake, like the outskirts of Othello,” he said. “So we really wanted to embrace and bring that culture back to Othello. And most of it was funding – obviously, to get the funding was more the beginning stage that we needed.”

The event is funded through the Elevate Othello program partnerships between Rural Development Initiatives and various local agencies and organizations. Committee member Maria I. Martinez elaborated on the funding sources.

“When we first applied, RDI I had like $30,000 to offer to the city of Othello. So, when we first applied, we applied for $10,000. Last week, Sulema … got a confirmation that they actually gave us $11,000,” she said. “Don (Burks) from Rotary had let us know that he was going to match what RDI gave us, and then later, Don had said that they were going to be able to even help us with more.”

Sulema Martinez said the event is intended to help spread awareness of the local vendors and services that will be attending the event.

“That's our main goal, to bring money back into Othello and to help all these businesses, whether you're a small business or you own your own business, like a grocery store, or you already have your restaurant, we want to help you guys be recognized here in Othello.”

Othello Rotary Club President Don Burks said the club is supporting the event to provide more offerings to the community.

“The Rotary Club would like to see more community events where the entire community can participate and come together,” he said. “The Fourth of July draws community-wide interest. The fair always draws community-wide interest. We need more events where everybody can come together and have a good time and participate.”

Maria Martinez said she hopes the event turns out to be bigger than Othello’s July 4 celebration. Burks also said one of the event’s goals is to help draw people to Othello.

“The people in outlying areas like Washtucna and Connell and Mattawa and Royal City, they're always looking for more events,” he said. “We would like it to be an event that is big enough and enough fun that we can draw people from the whole area.”

Sulema Martinez said the committee is hoping for at least 2,000 to 3,000 attendants. 

“We are going to be bringing a lot of people to this event,” Garza said. “We have little league going on at the same time, so that's bringing in a lot of people. The farm workers are working right now and it gives them an opportunity to kind of come in and be involved with the community. So we're expecting to have a good crowd.”

Garza said he hopes people will recognize that it is the first Cinco de Mayo event and the first event the Hispanic Committee has organized, so it may not be without challenges, but it can also grow in future years.

“We do have goals, and we do have plans. We want to bring it in next year, we want to have more sponsors, we want to have more community involvement and support,” he said. “We're hoping that this is a very successful event which we can learn from and then we can fix what needs to be fixed for next year and for future events.”

Sulema Martinez said to reach out to the Hispanic Committee at othellohispaniccommittee@yahoo.com or by calling (509) 795-0208 if interested in becoming a contestant in the crownings or registering in the car show.

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com.

Othello Cinco de Mayo
May 4, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Lions Park
815 E. Pine Street
Othello, WA 99344

    Organizers of the upcoming May 4 Cinco de Mayo celebration in Othello, from left to right, Othello Hispanic Committee member and Othello Food Bank Director Jose Garza, Othello Rotary Club President Don Burks, committee member Sulema Martinez and committee member Maria I. Martinez.
  

    Othello’s Lions Park, which will host the city’s first Cinco de Mayo event May 4 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The event is being organized by the Othello Hispanic Committee and the Othello Rotary Club.