Guadalupe Centers Celebrates Centennial Cinco de Mayo Fiesta

Daisy Garcia Montoya
Education Reporter

Guadalupe Centers annual Cinco de Mayo Fiesta is back and this year will be celebrating its centennial edition.

This free annual event hosted by Guadalupe Centers (1015 Avenida Cesar E. Chavez), the longest continuously operating organization serving Latinos in the United States, hopes to continue its mission of highlighting Latino culture while celebrating its heritage and significant milestone.

This year’s festivities will take place across a two-day span, May 1-2, in Kansas City’s Westside Neighborhood and will feature interactive activities, entertainment, food and art vendors, and will remain family friendly.

Director of Youth Development Gina Coronado has seen her fair share of Cinco de Mayo Fiestas over the nearly three decades she’s worked with Guadalupe Centers.

As the go-to person for youth development within the organization, Coronado says that she likes to ensure she can bring quality programming with caring certified adults in safe spaces for all young people by offering opportunities for families to learn and receive resources.

One way to accomplish that goal is through the activities and offerings at the Fiesta.

“One of the biggest changes throughout the years is bringing more attention to what young people would like, by bringing poetry, local artists and DJs that the youth would be interested in,” Coronado said.

With festivities kicking off on Friday, May 1st, Guadalupe Centers is incorporating the ‘First Fridays’ theme into its first day of celebrations, focusing on the arts.

“It’ll be more intimate, art-centered, and family focused with lots of engagement opportunities,” Coronado said.

Attendees will have the opportunity to make friendship bracelets, color Mexican and other Latin American countries’ flags and more as a way to make the event more hands-on and interactive.

Friday will serve as a warm up for Saturday, which will resemble a block party and carnival with more entertainment and vendors present. Attendees on Friday can expect a night with budding excitement and the opportunity to meet and support local art vendors while learning more about the various social services Guadalupe Centers offers to the community at large.

“We’re just trying to stay true to our roots and highlight the 100 years of the fiesta. We want to highlight our culture and our differences, what makes us unique and special,” Coronado said. “That is so important, more so now than it ever has been with the current climate in the United States right now. So this is one of the reasons why we do it, to celebrate our diversity.”

Although Cinco de Mayo has become heavily Americanized, often celebrated more extensively in the United States than in Mexico, the country it originates from, this festive day provides an opportunity for non Mexicans and Latinos to learn more and enjoy the richness of the culture.

What started as the Batalla de Puebla, where an outnumbered Mexican army defeated an elite French combat troop on May 5, 1862, resulting in a delay in the French invasion, has commercialized into a U.S. day filled with festivities.

Often mistaken as the Mexican Day of Independence, which actually takes place on September 16th, Chief Community Impact Officer Leo Prieto says that the Fiesta allows Guadalupe Center to share more about Mexican and Latino traditions and people to educate themselves further.

“We want to be inclusive, we want to invite people to know more about our culture, about Mexico, through our food, art and music,” Prieto said. For Latinos, celebrating and participating in this fiesta is another way to share their cultures with Kansas City and others.

As one of the first major Fiestas celebrating Latino heritage in the Midwest, it has become a staple event that people look forward to, as they gather and travel from surrounding areas and across state lines to attend.

“At a time when the Mexican American community was segregated in the barrio (neighborhood), the fiesta really fostered a positive view of the community that promoted cultural expression and their heritage,” Prieto said.

Reflecting back on the political turmoil experienced by Latinos, specifically Mexicans, Prieto says that being able to celebrate this 100th anniversary feels like paying homage to those individuals who experienced segregation at schools and the inability to play in sports leagues.

“To see that sense of empowerment, what people created for us, that laid the foundation many years ago. It’s a beautiful thing to combine this special day, our 100th anniversary with those milestones,” Prieto said.

As for day two of the festivities, May 2, attendees can expect to see Avenida Ceasar Chavez closed off with an even greater array of options from vendors, entertainment, games and food.

Saturday will feature different food options and vendors from authentic Mexican classics- tortas, burritos, fried tacos, eloteros (street corn vendors), paletas (popsicles) to new food fusions that incorporate American flavors.

Children will be exposed to an array of inflatable carnival games including a soccer-themed one to continue to build excitement around the upcoming 2026 World Cup. Children will also have the opportunity to earn prizes for the games they play, a new concept in this year’s Fiesta.

As for the entertainment options, Coronado and Prieto both ensure that there will be a blend of everything.

“You’re going to hear everything from Spanish Rock to Cumbias to Nortenas to Irish music to ballads and Tejano, it’s going to be cool and a little something for everyone,” Prieto said. Making Movies, a Latin Grammy-nominated local band, Selekto Show and SouLuna, a band made of former youth participants, will be performing among many others.

There will also be traditional forms of entertainment such as mariachis and folklorico dancers, including student led groups.

“Our goal is to showcase local talent, whether its local artists, musicians or food vendors. With the World Cup coming, it’s like a trial run. We want people to come and feel at home, mi casa es su casa (My house is your house),” Prieto said.

With a focus on the homegrown talent and vendors, the organization hopes to continue to build on the Kansas City pride and remind residents of the exciting opportunities coming to the city.

“We really just want to encourage people to come on out and not just support Guadalupe Centers but to enjoy themselves. Come and bring the family out and have a good time, it’s a true community event,” Prieto said. “We want people to know that we are here and we are going to continue. We have been here for 100 years and we are going to be here for another year.”