Cinco de Mayo in DeKalb returns at new spot in 2025

DeKALB – Organizers behind DeKalb's free Cinco de Mayo celebration are planning to bring all the food, fun and entertainment back for the third year in a row.

Festivities will take place from noon to 8 p.m. May 4 in Frank Van Buer Plaza in the city’s downtown. Previously, the event shut down portions of Lincoln Highway.

“We’re moving to Van Buer Plaza with the bulk of the Cinco de Mayo festivities held within that location similar to the farmers’ market,” Ryan Gifford, one of the owners of El Jimador Mexican Grill and one of the organizers for the event. “We’re using that area as the new central hub for Cinco de Mayo instead of using the block of downtown to be more fair to those businesses, traffic.”

Organizers said they have been putting in work to plan the event since last year.

Gifford described last year’s event as such a success that organizers wanted to build off it.

He estimates that crowds as large as 2,000 to 3,000 were drawn to the celebration in 2024.

“It had overwhelming support from the community last year,” he said. “It was huge. It was an all-day event.”

A majority of the celebration remains unchanged.

As in years past, highlights will include live music and dancing, food trucks, a beer garden and family-friendly activities.

Organizers also are planning a wagon parade expected to proceed down Locust Street and wrap around the Egyptian Theatre, 135 N. Second St., DeKalb. Spectators are encouraged to line the sidewalks as the procession makes it way through the city’s downtown.

Gifford said working with DeKalb city officials has been a seamless process for organizers.

“They’ve been wonderful to work with,” Gifford said. “City officials always seem to have our back. We have a great relationship with the city.”