Politics & Government

Duluth to Celebrate Cinco de Mayo on Town Green

Event features Pure Taqueria tacos, Margaritas; other restaurants, merchants invited to participate.

Duluth added a new celebration on the Town Green -- Cinco de Mayo. The city council Monday (April 11) approved the festive new event featuring tacos and Margaritas from Pure Taqueria and participation by other restaurants and merchants.

The event will celebrate the Mexican holiday and Pure Taqueria’s impending opening. The popular restaurant under construction at Main Street and Ga. Hwy. 120 had planned a grand opening to coincide with the May 5 holiday. Duluth Economic Development Manager Chris McGahee estimated that it could be mid-June before Pure Taqueria opens.

Pure Taqueria will be bringing its taco truck to Duluth for Cinco de Mayo, McGahee said. He invited other restaurants and businesses to sell food and beverages at the event. “It’s open to anyone who wants to participate,” McGahee said.

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McGahee and Alisa Williams, the city’s public information and marketing director, said there would virtually be no cost involved to the city in putting on the event. McGahee said that Cinco de Mayo would use tents set up for the Barefoot in the Park Fine Arts Festival May 6-8 on the Town Green. “The tents and the festive atmosphere already will be there,” he said. Williams said the Cinco de Mayo celebration would be held from 5 to 9 p.m. The city plans to hire a band for the event, she said.

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") commemorates the Mexican army's underdog victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. The holiday is celebrated more in the United States than in Mexico. 

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The council approved funding for parking improvements to the old City Hall Block and the first phase of a downtown wayfinding signage program that includes parking and directional signs. The parking lot enhancements and signs will help the estimated 550 daily Pure Taqueria patrons find parking spots downtown when the restaurant opens.

City staff was directed by the council to come up with an “action plan” to eliminate illegal signs and banners and prevent unlicensed and uncertified car washes from operating in the city. Sam Eskenazi, operator of Carnett’s Car Wash on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, complained to the council that the illegal car washes were operating without business licenses and without state Environment Protection Division certification.

“They operate from under canvas canopies instead of permanent structures, use garden hoses instead of plumbed lines, dispose of their dirty water and chemicals into storm drains instead of treatment systems and display their banners without regard to ordinances or permits,” Eskenazi stated in letters and documents he presented to the council. The improperly disposed of water eventually drains into the Chattahoochee River, he said.


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