Today’s world is chaotic and often scary, but in a small city like ours, we are shaped less by headlines and more by tradition. Local traditions are typically defining moments. They help connect us to our roots and come together as a community. The LC Valley is full of beloved traditions; Winter Spirit, The Dogwood Festival, Lewiston Roundup, and even fight nights out at the casino. Of course, there is one tradition that we hold extra close to our hearts, the type of tradition that only forms when a place and its people grow together. In big cities, Cinco De Mayo is celebrated with festivals, bars, and big events. Here? Let’s go to TacoTime.
Did you know there are no actual archives or press records about Cinco De Mayo at TacoTime? It was never planned out, it wasn’t even intended to happen. The annual Cinco Celebration is a local tradition that grew completely organically. In 2004, Pat Rogers, Manager of Happy Day’s TacoTimes, left town on May 5th. In prior years, Cinco was just a regular busy day so he didn’t think he needed to be there. Then came the call. Scott Moore, the manager of the Lewiston TacoTime at the time, called flustered. Evidently, Cinco De Mayo was about to become a bigger deal than we could have ever imagined. Bruce Finch and Ken King had already made their way there, busy frying taco shells per order, due to the sheer volume of people who showed up. And so, it began.
The first official Cinco celebration had 59 cent tacos. At the time, these days were managed with a typical crew of 12-15 employees. After every Cinco, Pat would gather his team and they would get to work deciding what went well, how they could improve, and devising a plan for the following year. These meetings often discussed variables like parking, drive through traffic, and even limiting the amount of tacos per order. Limiting the purchasable amount is never an easy decision, but they would get to a point where 700 tacos were on the screen waiting to be made! This always posed a challenge for staff, particularly management. Managers arrived at the restaurant around 5 am, and in the early days, they still served breakfast and the full menu alongside the Cinco Celebration. And if they ran out of ingredients? The chaos would only grow. Pat recalled an especially crazy Cinco De Mayo where Lewiston and Clarkston stores were running low on ingredients, and Moscow Taco Time lost power! Pat drove up there to get everything he could bring back, and the Valley stores were able to keep running. “He works in mysterious ways,” Pat stated, and we couldn’t agree more.
Cinco De Mayo in the area is not so much a Happy Day event but more so a community event. And while Cinco itself is a tradition, our employees have made smaller traditions within the day. Prior to Cinco, the preparation rituals are an event on their own. Making parking lot plans and figuring out how to manage traffic flow are also pre-event traditions that the employees take part in. But perhaps our favorite part is all of the crew made traditions, like wearing on theme tutus and shouting ‘Ole’ when an order has 25+ tacos. The competitions also incentivize everyone. The infamous pepper charts on the walls and the annual social media competition where you, my dear reader, get to vote how many tacos you think they can make in one day. The most recognized tradition? The decorations. All of our TacoTime stores cover everything they can with decorations! It was clear early on how important it is, so the managers and crew members have always had free reign on how their stores are decorated.
Some traditions have stayed, some new ones have made their way in, and some are just gone. For a brief span of time, from roughly 2015-2018, Cinco De Mayo was actually live broadcasted all day at each store! Nelly Broadcasting at Clarkston Taco Time, CatFM at Lewiston Taco Time, and even Z Fun would swing by the Moscow location! While traditions like this have faded, chaotic and last minute accommodations are alive and well. Whether it’s cooking meat at Zany’s or frying taco shells at Arby’s, there’s always a way to get things done. “That’s the glory of this company,” Pat Rogers said, “we always figure it out.” What hasn’t changed though is the dedication of our teams. When asked what Cinco means to him, Pat said what we’re all thinking; “It’s everything, it’s about the community. We don’t do it for profit, this event is the epitome of team. The work these employees, these kids put into it is amazing.”
Cinco De Mayo is coming up quickly, and preparations are already in full swing. Diving into the history of the event and traditions that come with it has truly been such a treat, but there’s more to come! Stay tuned after Cinco for an exclusive look into how our restaurants manage to pull this off; how all the food is prepped, how fast paced it gets, and just the pure energy and love poured into this day. The celebration is right around the corner, are you ready to go to TacoTime?
Wanna see more? We couldn’t fit all the pictures in one email… So we made a view-only photo folder with even more throwbacks! Click, scroll, smile.
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