AFTER A FITFUL START, A RESPECTABLE SHOWING AT EL MERCADITO

By Juan Montoya
It all has to start somewhere.
In the case of the effort to rehabilitate Downtown Browntown, proponents of the plan to turn it into a New Orleans on the Rio Grande were willing to start by reclaiming a one-block space for perhaps four or five hours.
The noon starting hours Saturday and Sunday of the El Mercadito Experiment on Adams Street kept most everyone away at first except for a few "Mad dogs and Englishmen."
But, as the blazing heat waned to a bearable 85 to 95 degrees in the hours after 5 p.m., the natives starting showing up at the one-block strip lined with honky-tonk Market Square bars and second-hand stores to see what these people were all about.
Regulars to the fine establishments on the one-block strip were greeted not by elderly honky-tonk patrons and bar waitresses and street people, but by sellers of native crafts, bikers, and New-Age hipsters buying aguas de fruta and pozole from vendors who had erected stands on the street.
Owners of the bars were not allowed to set up tables on the sidewalks and hawk their cold wares by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Still, the regulars who patronize the joints were not deterred by the rock and roll and Muscia Nueva bellowing from the sound system set up on the eastern end of the block.
Many local dignitaries made an appearance, including Mayor Tony Martinez and his wife who were serenaded by the current and former members of the TSC-UTB all-women Mariachi Las Margaritas and pressed the flesh. Brownsville president of the Society for the Performing Arts George Ramirez and supporter Ben Neece also helped with the event. Planners say that they hope to make it a monthly event and will try to move it to Market Square after the transportation terminal across from UTB-TSC goes into operation. They hope, eventually, to make it a permanent fixture on Market Square.
Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos also made a cameo appearance and Peter Goodman, the director of the city's heritage commission, competed with Brownsville's official Goodwill Ambassador Ralph Cowen (also a Brownsville Navigation Commissioner) to see who could occupy more space and make themselves more noticed than the other.
By the time the bands took to the stage to belt out their multicultural renditions, the festive crowd had forgotten the squalid notoriety of the locale and took in the sounds in safety and comfort.
The event came to an end at a safe 10 p.m. closing time. On Sunday, the festivities came to an end at 5 p.m., a scorching five hours with noticeably less attendees than the day before.
As a supporter of the event said as he stood in the shade of a live oak near the fountain,"Everything has to have a beginning. I wouldn't call it a rousing success, but it's a start. Next time, we hope it gets better."