Santa Rosa to hold Cinco de Mayo event after cancellation of popular Roseland festival

Santa Rosa is moving forward with a Cinco de Mayo event after organizers of the popular Roseland celebration announced this week they were canceling the event for the fourth year in a row.

The event is slated for May 5, likely in the afternoon, and will take place in the same vicinity in Roseland — along Sebastopol Road between West and Avalon avenues, near the Mitote Food Park, city spokesperson Kevin King said.

King said organizers largely had the framework for the festival and city officials on Wednesday decided to take it over after the citizen group determined it wasn’t feasible for them to host it.

“There’s been a lot of excitement,” King said. “Everyone loves this event and it’s a great event for the city to step into.”

Additional details are limited as planning at City Hall gets underway.

Officials began meeting Thursday to start planning the cultural festivities, King said.

Officials are reaching out to vendors and internally to staff to set up booths as well as to various groups that can provide entertainment that aligns with the cultural significance of the holiday, King said.

The city had already been planning public safety response and road closures in preparation for the event.

Sylvia Lemus and Caroline Bañuelos, longtime Roseland Cinco de Mayo event organizers, told The Press Democrat on Tuesday that they got the green light from the city in late March but decided against proceeding due to the difficulty of hosting a safe event on short notice.

At that time they were also told they would need to handle security and traffic closures for the event. The city offered to help cover some of those costs, they said, but it presented another set of hurdles.

In early April, they said they were told police would handle road closures on Cinco de Mayo, but at that point they had already made their decision.

King said planning an event in 10 days is “a giant undertaking” and details are unfolding “quickly” but more information is expected in the coming days.

Staff Writer Jennifer Sawhney contributed to this story.