Cinco de Mayo may not be what you think, but Gaston's restaurants help you celebrate it

The American version of Cinco de Mayo, or May 5, happens Thursday, which means more customers at Mexican restaurants taking advantage of holiday specials.

And while Cinco de Mayo has a different tradition than it does in Mexico, many restaurant owners celebrate the day even if it does not exactly fit within their own culture.

"We know people here celebrate it, so why not?" said Milagro Dinarte, manager of Los Arcos near the Eastridge Mall, in Spanish.

"We usually blast music on our patio and sell our beers for five cents. We call it nickel beers," said Dinarte.

Dinarte said he has been working at Los Arcos since arriving in the United States in 1992 from El Salvador in pursuit of the "American dream."

Gaston County has dozens of Mexican restaurants and food trucks that serve entrees from tacos to burritos, enchiladas to tamales.

Cinco de Mayo helps draw in non-Hispanic customers to Mexican restaurants, said Ambi Acosta and Ana Zarate, husband-and-wife owners of Agave Mexican Restaurant, located on East Frankin Boulevard, west of South New Hope Road.

Acosta, of Dominican descent, and Zarate, who is from Mexico, do not celebrate Cinco de Mayo personally, but give their customers a discount on the day. They estimated that 80% of their customers on Cinco de Mayo are non Hispanic.

The couple say Agave really has two menus, one being those Zarate grew up cooking with her grandmother back in Mexico, and the other being the "Americanized" version of what is known to be Tex-Mex dishes.

"One side of the menu is called 'Real Mexican food,' and the other side is called 'Fake Mexican food.' Fake Mexican food is food that isn't really Mexican but that is thought to be so such as chimichangas," Acosta said.

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Vanessa Gomez, owner of Mamacitas food truck, often located at 1504 W. Franklin Blvd., expects to have more customers on Thursday.

“We do not celebrate it personally, but we feel like our customers feel the need to eat Mexican food so we try to make that day extra special for them,” said Gomez.

Her food truck will not only have specials, but she also plans to have music, face painting and other activities around her mobile restaurant.

“We just want to please everybody and feed them some good Mexican food,” Gomez said.

What is Cinco de Mayo?

Many confuse Cinco de Mayo to be Mexican Independence Day when in reality, the day commemorates the anniversary of Mexico's victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

The day is not a federal holiday and only the people of Puebla, Mexico, really hold celebrations, which include battle reenactments, parades and other ceremonies.

Cinco de Mayo is more popular in the United States than in Mexico.

It began to be celebrated in California and gained nationwide popularity in the 1980s due to advertising campaigns from beer, wine and tequila companies.

Mexico's real Independence Day is celebrated on Sept. 16.

Beatriz Guerrero can be reached at 704-869-1828 or on Twitter@BeatrizGue_.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gaston County's Mexican restaurants celebrate Cinco de Mayo