Mariachi Nuevo Jalisco de Javier Diaz deliver their mix of Mexican mariachi music Sunday during the 28th annual Cinco de Mayo celebration in downtown Watsonville. Put on by Fiestas Patrias, the event, which drew about 15,000 people, featured dance and live music, prepared foods, information tables, and various goods for sale. The celebration commemorates the Battle of Puebla, in which a 4,500-member Mexican army of men, women and children defeated better-equipped French troops on May 5, 1862. Though heavily outnumbered, the Mexicans defeated an army that had gone undefeated for almost 50 years. Under the rule of Emperor Napoleon III, French forces invaded Mexico under colonial guises, only to have their advanced army destroyed by General Zaragosa and his army of Mexican irregulars, according to program notes by Fiestas Patrias de Watsonville.
Garbed in traditional Mexican attire, Brandy Ixtlahuaca, 8, enjoys a snack at the celebration. Photo by Tarmo Hannula/Pajaronian
