The Conversation: KCK’s Cinco de Mayo festival celebrates cultural roots

Lupe Sanchez is the founder of the Kansas City, Kan., Cinco de Mayo festival, which she organized eight years ago after moving to the city from Omaha, Neb. The first festival was on Rainbow Boulevard. For the last several years Sanchez has worked with the owners of Bonito Michoacan meat market and restaurant, 1150 Minnesota Ave., to hold the festival in front of the restaurant. The avenue will be blocked off from 11th to 12th streets May 9; the parade begins at 11 a.m. followed by a drum orchestra, folk dancing, singers and a re-enactment of the Battle of Puebla. This conversation took place in between bites of pineapple-filled pastries at the Bonito Michoacan bakery, across the street from the meat market.

Is Cinco de Mayo the Mexican equivalent of the 4th of July?

No. Mexico’s Independence Day is Sept. 16.

But I love Cinco de Mayo because it is a celebration of people having great heart. There is a town called Puebla Veracruz, where a small number of Indians, maybe 4,500, were fighting against the French army (in 1862).

What I love about it is, even though the odds were against them, and the French army had twice as many soldiers, they had the heart to fight and they defeated the French.

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated more in the U.S. than in Ireland. Is Cinco de Mayo celebrated more here than in Mexico?

(Laughs) Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Which is wonderful, because it is an American celebration of Mexican culture.

What was your vision for the Celebrando, as you call the festival in Spanish?

People in Kansas City were already celebrating Cinco de Mayo, but I wanted it to be more about our roots. I wanted to bring the dancing horses — the charros — and folk music and other aspects of the culture that we can pass on to other generations. This year we hope to have a couple of luchador wrestlers.

Were you born in the United States?

I was born white in Nebraska (smiles). I didn’t know how to speak Spanish. My parents were born in Texas. My grandparents were from Mexico.

I feel like I didn’t become Mexican until I got married. My husband was from Mexico and it made me start to wonder who I really was.

Even though Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican event, is your festival specific to Mexican culture or does it include other Hispanic and Latino traditions?

It’s more than that. Wyandotte County has such a rich immigrant history. There is African-American history at the Quindaro ruins. We had Native Americans here. There is Polish history on Strawberry Hill.

We are a unique community in the metro with regard to our ethnic mix. I say humbly that we can be leaders in helping people pass down their cultural identity to their children, to remember where they came from. That is important in a nation of immigrants.

Everyone has a beautiful history no matter where your ancestors came from. Every group has its heroes that have contributed to America, whether it is Martin Luther King or Cesar Chavez, and we need to celebrate all of them.

And we need to focus on the history of the other groups, not just our own, so we can understand each other better and get along.

Now that the festival has become so successful do you have any other dreams?

Well I have a big one, but I don’t want to say.

Why not? It might inspire someone.

Well, I would love to see a developer come in here and look at the rich culture of Wyandotte County and create something that truly celebrated all those histories.

Can you imagine a Polish person coming and seeing something about their ancestors, and Germans, and African-Americans, American Indians, Latinos, Koreans, the Chinese?

I think a developer could come in and help all those groups establish small businesses and make this a destination for people to experience all different cultures.

Can you imagine what a wonderful community that would be?

This story was originally published May 2, 2015 at 7:00 AM.