Five Cinco de Mayo Events

by Nicholas Walecka
by Nicholas Walecka

If only every holiday were on the weekend.

Holidays give us an excuse to drink, especially the drinker’s holidays.  In 2012, we were blessed with St. Patrick’s Day arriving on a Friday for the first time in what felt like forever, and now we have Cinco de Mayo showing up shortly after on a Saturday night, aka Friday’s equally evil twin.

Most nine-to-fivers with a taste for booze were probably happy to hear this news.  As we get older and attempt to be more responsible, we must also attempt to manage our potential hangovers. Weekend holidays allow us to celebrate to our full potential.

That being said, I’ve assembled a list of five things to do on the fifth of May in the New Bedford area that will hopefully help fill your appetite for entertainment, adult beverages, and Mexican fare, and though some aren’t necessarily Mexican themed, they should still satisfy your need for a fiesta.

5) Buster’s Sports Bar and Grill (227 State Rd., North Dartmouth) features a Cinco de Mayo party which includes drink specials such as $3 Dos Equis and Margaritas all day, as well as $3 Buster Burritos until 5pm.  There will also be live music in the afternoon, and they will broadcast the highly anticipated Mayweather vs. Cotto boxing match that takes place that evening.

4) No Problemo (813 Purchase St.) presents “A Night of Reggae” featuring Adowa Sound Star Boy and Omega Sound Sista Laura, as well as their regular menu of delicious Mexican themed dishes.  No Probs always seems to pack in a crowd on Cinco de Mayo, so don’t expect this Saturday to be any different.

3) Pizan’s (29 Union St.) will host local act Weld Square for “Weld Square Rocks While You Get Rocked” from 12-2am.  There will be $5 sangria and $3 Coronas, as well as a number of other beers on draft and in cans.  Pizan’s isn’t  a big venue, so you can imagine an intense scene for one of New Bedford’s hardest rocking bands. “We’re anticipating there to be at least two broken windows,” said their animated bassist Kevin Nunes.  Weld Square’s debut CD “Femme de Maison” will also be available for cinco dolares ($5).

2) The Tree at Kirby’s Irish Pub (818 Kempton St.):  The Tree is a genre-melding band with a focus on fun and positivity.  I like to consider them a jam-band with a duo of rappers (HiLoe and B-Ez) and a sweet sounding female vocalist (Michelle Oliveri), but they’re much more than that.  You’ll have to check them out to understand what I mean, because trying to describe them with words does no justice to the smooth yet powerful sound they put out.  Show starts at 10.

1) Mi Antojo Mexican Restaurant (95 Rivet St.) is probably the closest representation of authentic Mexican that this area has to offer.  The wait staff isn’t exactly fluent in English, so you might want to brush up on your Spanish, and the food isn’t representative of what many of us are used to, so I see Mi Antojo as the perfect place to step outside your regular routine and into something a bit more Mexican for Cinco de Mayo.  There will be a mariachi band to serenade you while you enjoy the various types of Mexican fare—I recommend you try the tacos with avocado or the pupasas with pork—and various other authentic Mexican traditions will be honored in the celebration.  Oh, and they serve of cerveza and tequila and are open from 11am-11pm.