Looking for an authentic Cinco de Mayo experience in Phoenix? You’re in the right place.
Celebrate the fifth of May this weekend, May 2-3, during the Cinco de Mayo Phoenix Festival on the streets of Downtown Phoenix.
This annual street festival — complete with a backdrop of city skyscrapers — returns with major local and national headliners, arts, and food and drink, for a two-day multicultural fiesta of grande proportions.
In its 22nd year, the Cinco de Mayo Phoenix Festival is a longtime favorite, but this year’s event is changing things up a bit, offering festival-goers a more diverse music line-up.
Typically, the music was similar on each day. But this year, Saturday will bring musicians like Fayuca, De’Anza, Sir Mix-A-Lot and Ginuwine to the stage with more traditional Chicano, R&B funk on Sunday.
There’s another major change to the festival’s program: A musician-artist collaboration where local artist Angel Diaz will live paint during a performance by local band Fayuca. You may recognize some of Diaz’s work, as it’s scattered across the walls and buildings of Downtown Phoenix.
This is the first time the festival will feature this kind of performance — mashing different art forms to better identify with the creative Latin culture and burgeoning arts scene in Downtown Phoenix.
The festivities will also include lucha libre, ballet folklorico performances, a USA Olympic-style boxing tournament, kids zone, and prizes and giveaways.
The Cinco de Mayo Phoenix Festival is this Saturday, May 2 from 2 p.m.-12 a.m. and Sunday, May 3 from 12-10 p.m. General admission tickets are $15 for each day. Reserved seating tickets are available for $25 for each day. Or for the ultimate festival experience, snag a pair of VIP tickets for $50 for each day, which includes seats in an air-conditioned lounge, artist meet-and-greets, two free drinks, and more. Admission is $5 before 5 p.m. on the day of the festival and kids ages 12 and under are free. Visit www.cincophx.com for more information.