May 5th was, as the date suggests, Cinco de Mayo, the popular holiday in Mexico and largely North America, including the U.S. In Mount Prospect, the holiday isn’t granted the same love as other cultural holidays like the Mount Prospect Downtown Merchant’s Oktoberfest, which receives a straight up multi-day festival in the middle of downtown Mount Prospect. However, the arrival of new distillery and restaurant Whiskey Hill on Prospect Avenue has changed this. The new establishment is a sister location to the original in Westmont, Illinois. The Westmont location is where the whiskey is actually distilled. This year, two days prior to Cinco de Mayo on May 3rd, Prospect Avenue was closed off, and a street festival dubbed “Cinco de Derby” commenced, celebrating both Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby.
The festival included entertainment such as live mariachi bands, DJ sets, and a “Mana” tribute band. There were curbside bartenders, a taco tent from Lady Dahlia, and the crown jewel: a huge screen mounted on a U-Haul style truck playing the Kentucky Derby.
Although having the makings of what could become a keystone festival of downtown Mount Prospect, especially in an area removed from the economic benefits of festivals like the Downtown Block Party and the Fridays on the Green concert series, there was a major obstacle in the way of Cinco de Derby’s success: the cold. The festival had a crowd of a few hundred for the derby itself, but afterwards the street rapidly cleared out as the crowds, driven by the cold, flooded Whiskey Hill and neighboring Salernos. A hostess at Whiskey Hill told me that they had every table reserved for the entirety of the night. Zach Sheldon, a freshman, attended the festival. “Really loved the band,” said Sheldon.
As for the derby itself, the first place horse was named Sovereignity – in second was, to Knight Media’s delight, Journalism. The horse named Baeza could be found in third. Sophomore Sean Lehmann, who attended the festival with Sheldon, shared his thoughts on the derby. “I thought the Kentucky derby was underwhelming, people say it is the most exciting two minutes in sports but it did not live up to that title,” said Lehmann.
Whiskey Hill is yet to announce if the Cinco de Derby festival will return next year – if it does, Sheldon hopes it does so without the chilly weather. “[This year,] the outdoor atmosphere was somewhat lacking, probably because of the cold,” said Sheldon.
