As you drove up to the Epiphany Catholic Church in Italy, Texas your ears were delighted by lively music, just as your eyes were mesmerized by beautifully costumed dancers.

It was the Epiphany Catholic Church Fiesta I am talking about, that took place Sunday afternoon at 11:00PM. There were games to be played and lots of food to be eaten!

But the highlight of this event had to be the Cinco Di Mayo Folkloric dancers from Itasca, Texas.

The young dancers were dressed in authentic-like costumes of Mexico. The younger girl’s dresses had many bright colors of red, green, yellow, pink and blue and the older girls were dressed in white dresses with red sashes, black aprons with colorful designs and beautiful headdresses. Some of the boys had white shirts and black pants along with black boots and some had white shirts, white pants, white boots and a red tie.

Sylvia Rodriguez (the Cinco Di Mayo Folkloric dance teacher) said, “We were invited here for a fiesta for the Epiphany Catholic Church in Italy. We were asked to perform and we usually perform where ever we are asked to go. We are the Cinco Di Mayo Folkloric dancers. Today they did, Dance with Machete – a fast paced dance and they also peformed soft paced dances from Vera Cruz which are softer than most of the dances.”

The girls and boys that participated in the dances were were from ages four all the way up to eighteen. There were even three moms in this group of dancers. “I have gone through two generations of kids. three of the dancers were moms I taught and now I am teaching their children,” explained Rodriguez.

Sylvia has been involved with the Cinco Di Mayo Folkloric dancers for fifteen years. “This helps to keep the history and the Mexican heritage alive in these children’s dances.”

There were many happy faces as the raffle ticket winners were announced.

Lots of fun, prizes, dancing, music and food for everyone at this wonderful fiesta!