For those who plan to get in tune with a popular holiday this Sunday, a chance to celebrate Cinco de Mayo at El Rayo Taqueria in Portland means checking out some local musical talent.
The York Street taco shop and the cantina next door are hosting a bunch of local bands, in a grand event called FIESTA! Cinco de Mayo.
There will be music by the Pete Kilpatrick Band, Anna and the Diggs, and Pete Witham and the Cozmik Zombies. Jaw Gems joins in the fun, as does the Maine Marimba Ensemble and Primo Cubano.
The fifth of May commemorates the Mexican army's victory over France at the Battle of Puebla, during the Franco-Mexican War. Often mistakenly thought of as an Independence Day, it is a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, but has come to be a celebration here for Mexican-Americans.
Rob Cimitile, assistant manager at El Rayo, will play with the Maine Marimba Ensemble, as well as his other band, Builder of the House.
There will be an outdoor kitchen and bar, in addition to the regular menu offerings. Kids can enjoy face painting, and the brave ones among us can ride a mechanical bull.
There will be a tent, so no matter the weather, music and Mexican frivolity will be on tap.
This is the fourth annual Fiesta! and organizers say it will be bigger and better than ever.
"We're really excited about the music lineup we have," Cimitile said. "It's going to be the biggest production we've had. We were looking for kind of a mini-musical festival feeling."
Marc Chillemi, of Primo Cubano, says he loves playing his music, called "son Cubano" or "the sound of Cuba," in an outdoor venue.
"This music is built to play outside," he said. "In the old part of Havana, you have all these cross-streets. At every corner, there's a 'son' group just like ours."
Chillemi, who plays trumpet, was in Cuba in 2002. Guitarist Paul D'Alessio went there in 2004 and also got turned on to the music. D'Alessio just returned from Trinidad again, Chillemi said, as part of an agricultural exchange between Brunswick and its sister city that dates to the Eisenhower administration.
Think of the band as the Buena Vista Social Club of Portland, said Chillemi, who is joined by D'Alessio, Lenny Hatch on percussion, Eric Winter who plays maracas and sings, and Duane Edwards on bass fiddle.
The cantina next door to El Rayo Taqueria opens at 9 a.m. so early-risers can get their Mexican fix even sooner. Each year, the crowds at the event get bigger.
"Last year was pretty insane," Cimitile said. "I don't know all the numbers off the top of my head, but it was nonstop people coming in the entire day. We didn't promote much last year, but it's been building on its own. Last year, we got slammed and that influenced our approach this year. We said, 'Let's just go all out.' We won best Mexican restaurant in Portland in April (in a local newspaper poll), so we've been riding that wave."

The Event:
FIESTA! Cinco de Mayo at El Rayo
Sunday, May 5
11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
El Rayo Taqueria / Cantina
101 York Street, Portland

The Bands:
Primo Cubano at 11 a.m.
Maine Marimba Ensemble at 1 p.m.
Jaw Gems at 3 p.m.
Pete Witham and the Cozmik Zombies at 4 p.m.
Builder of the House at 6 p.m.
Anna and the Diggs at 7 p.m.
Pete Kilpatrick Band at 8 p.m.

Anania's has seen a lot of changes in the last 50 years. Competition from bigger food shops, up and down economies, and the fickle nature of owning a small business have all given Ed and Barbara Anania plenty to think about as their outer Congress Street store celebrates its golden anniversary. But the success stories have won out over such hardships, due to both an adaptable marketing strategy and the consistent freshness and quality of the food they serve.
Over the years, the store changed their offerings to keep ahead of the food club competition. Ed contrasted the store as it was then with what it's like now.
"The biggest difference is we started out as a mini-grocery store. But with the grocery stores getting bigger, we started making sandwiches."
That change helped them compete and stay in business, and the family-run operation has been thriving ever since.
Joe Anania, Ed's uncle, bought the Newbury Street Market in the Little Italy section of Portland in 1958. Ed Anania, the current owner's father, bought into the business in 1959.
They named it Anania's in 1963.
Ed worked there since he was a kid, in the mid 1970's. He has been working full-time there since 1983, after he graduated from the University of Southern Maine. His three sisters also worked there through high school. His own three kids chipped in at the store when they were in high school and college. Two of his children are now army officers, the third is living in Massachusetts. They opened a second store, a Washington Avenue locale, in 1997.
A while ago, they decided to get into the catering business, as another way to take advantage of good food ready-made for the public.
"Every time the big guys get bigger, we try to change, to bring in new things." Ed said. "We have some fantastic whoopie pies."
The changes over time have been the lifeblood of the variety store, and the fresh, local food has been the backbone.
Asked about what might be in store for them in the years ahead, Ed and Barbara said so much time in the business has taught them to be ready for changes, and to be ready to adapt when they come.
As part of the 50th anniversary celebration, Anania's is offering two Italian sandwiches for $7.99, about a dollar off the normal price.

Greg St. Angelo was a "Dump Ranger."
That title was bestowed on the kids who grew up in East Bayside because of the proximity to the dump, but the residents wore the title as a badge of honor.
People said East Bayside was a dumpy place, according to St. Angelo, but the residents knew better because it was their home.
"It was a great place to grow up," St. Angelo said. "I can't tell you anything bad about the neighborhood."
St. Angelo grew up on Everett Street, where his family had lived since his grandparents immigrated to the United States. All the families knew each other, the kids played together and people cared about the neighborhood.
After he left Portland in 1951 and came back in 1970, St. Angelo said the neighborhood began to change as many of the people who grew up there moved away and never came back.
St. Angelo, who lives in North Deering, said when he visits the old neighborhood now, it's improved greatly over the years and feels like it used to.
"I think right now, it's probably as good as it's ever been," he said.
During the past few years, East Bayside has slowly developed into one of the city's most thriving neighborhoods as more people are moving into East Bayside and businesses are springing up. Of all of Portland's neighborhoods, East Bayside has seen the greatest amount of residential growth, with an increase of 3 percent for a total of 1,573 residents.
"It just feels like a place where people live, work and play," said Heather Sanborn, co-owner of Rising Tide Brewery on Anderson Street.

The tipping point

Portland developer Peter Bass saw opportunity in East Bayside as the site of a housing complex he planned to build in the early 2000s.
Bass said he saw Anderson Street as a transitional location between the multi-family residential properties on the hill and the light industrial properties in East Bayside.
When the 145 Anderson St. project opened in 2002, Bass said he thought economic growth in East Bayside would happen sooner but the recession delayed it.
"It is happening now," he said.
A major factor that led to the boom in East Bayside is the overall growth of Portland, Bass said. Given the lower prices in that neighborhood, it became attractive because more established areas like the West End and Munjoy Hill got too pricey, he said.
Jed Rathband, an East Bayside resident and member of the neighborhood organization, said space started to become scarce on the peninsula, especially when people wanted to be downtown. The location and amount of available property drove East Bayside's recent growth, he said.
East Bayside has reached its tipping point, said Rathband, as people are paying attention to the neighborhood and getting interested in it.
"The interest comes first and then the growth," he said.
Rising Tide Brewery, Tandem Coffee, Bunker Brewing, Pistol Pete's Upholstery, Portland Power Yoga, the Greener Cleaner, Horizon Energy and Urban Farm Fermentory are all businesses that have cropped up during the last year and a half in East Bayside. Other companies like Maine Mead Works and Coffee By Design have grown and expanded as new businesses are moving in.
The crop of new businesses was fostered, in part, by the light industrial space that scarcely exists elsewhere on the Portland peninsula.
The industrial buildings in East Bayside outgrew their usefulness for manufacturing and warehousing because they were antiquated or too small, Bass said.
Serious light industrial uses are moving to larger parcels off Warren Avenue and Presumpscot Street, said Bass, but the buildings in East Bayside are being subdivided for smaller businesses. He said that movement opened up the light industrial real estate to new uses.
"That kind of got things going down there," he said.
An early pop-up in the industrial section of East Bayside was Maine Mead Works, which got its start on Anderson Street before moving to 51 Washington Avenue more than two years ago.
When the company was looking for startup space, the Anderson Street light industrial area felt like a good choice because it was close to downtown, said Nick Higgins, the company's meadmaker, and it wasn't out in an industrial park.
"It was just a good fit," he said.
Rising Tide first opened its doors off Riverside Street in an industrial area that housed five other breweries, said Heather Sanborn, co-owner of Rising Tide Brewery, and the space lacked the community feeling since it wasn't in a neighborhood. Sanborn said when they started looking for a new space to expand the operation, their priority was finding a building where the interior fit the needs of a brewery, like floor drains and overhead doors, plus it would be an advantage to have space on the peninsula.
Sanborn said she grew up in Portland and thought that East Bayside was not a good neighborhood, but found that wasn't the case.
"I've never questioned the decision to take this space," she said.
When Will and Kathleen Pratt moved to Portland in earlier 2012 and started scouting locations to open a coffee roastery in Portland, the first building they were shown was 122 Anderson St., and it was love at first sight.
"It was perfect," said Kathleen Pratt, the co-owner of Tandem Coffee.
At first, Pratt said they just planned on having a roastery but got the zoning exceptions to open a small cafe.
"I feel like we picked the best place for us," she said.
As other businesses were establishing themselves in East Bayside, Pratt said she noticed a lot of exciting things happening in the neighborhood with the breweries, distillery, fermentory and artesian food makers.
"I feel like there's a lot of momentum down here," Pratt said.
East Bayside has an authentic, local businesses community that has driven its growth, she said, and that atmosphere was created by companies like the soon-to-open distillery, Tandem Coffee Roasters, Bunker Brewing, Urban Farm Fermentory, Horizon Energy, Maine Green Building Supply, the Greener Cleaner, Portland Power Yoga.
"They make this place a better neighborhood every day," she said.

'A great little neighborhood'

Higgins, of Maine Mead Works, had an impression growing up in Portland that East Bayside was a sketchy and unsafe neighborhood, but found that wasn't the case when he moved to Hammond Street. Having lived on the West End, he said, there are areas in that neighborhood that feel more unsafe than in East Bayside and was pleased with what he found.
"It's just really safe," he said.
Aside from working in East Bayside, Higgins bought a house in the neighborhood.
Higgins said when he started looking at buying a home, he knew he wanted to live on the peninsula, but had to work within his budget.
After about a year of searching, Higgins said he decided to take a look at East Bayside.
Higgins said he never thought of East Bayside as a residential area but went to look at some houses, and found one that was within his budget and didn't need a lot of work.
After looking at the property, Higgins said, he took a walk around the neighborhood later in the day.
"I realized it's a great little neighborhood," he said.
Melissa Hoskins, president of the East Bayside Neighborhood Organization, had lived on both Munjoy Hill and the West End before she started looking for a house. Hoskins said she knew she wanted a multi-family building but had a limited budget.
She zeroed in on East Bayside.
"It was close to the East End but it wasn't as expensive," Hoskins said, and it had a diverse neighborhood with a mix of people.
Hoskins said East Bayside is the state's most diverse neighborhood. According to the 2010 Census, the East Bayside block has a diversity index of 71.4 percent — the highest in Portland. The index means that if two people are chosen at random, there's a 71.4 percent chance they belong to different races or ethnic groups.
"That was very attractive to me," she said.
It's important for the neighborhood's residents to retain the diversity and mix of incomes, said Hoskins, and not let East Bayside get gentrified to the point where those residents are pushed out.
Higgins said one of his first impressions of the neighborhood was the diversity. He said there's large immigrant population, young people and the long-time working-class residents.
"I'm really happy I ended up there," he said.

Getting past the past

Stories persist about East Bayside's past crime problems and blighted houses, but residents say that's no longer the case.
In 2010, the Portland Police Department established the East Bayside Community Policing Office to create a greater presence in the neighborhood. Senior Lead Officer Anthony Ampezzan said he's seen positive changes in the neighborhood during the past few years.
"It's moving in the right direction," he said, and people are paying better attention to the neighborhood, and putting money and resources into the houses and amenities, like the basketball courts.
Ampezzan said the added presence in the neighborhood helps the officers get to know the residents and build relationships. He said as time goes on, more people are becoming more comfortable with telling the community policing office about any issues.
"The relationships are much better than a few years ago," he said.
Hoskins said crime in the neighborhood comes in spurts, and the community policing office addresses one issue and another crops up. She said, based on the stories she's heard, it's a huge improvement from a few years ago.
Two factors have driven the decrease in some of the crime issues, said Hoskins, and that's the police presence and the influx of people who are concerned about their neighborhood.
"I think we're moving in the right direction with that," she said.
Ampezzan said even with the improvements to the buildings, new residents and greater foot traffic, there are still some problem spots.
"I believe crime has gone down but it's not disappeared," he said.
Rathband said East Bayside's challenge has been dispelling the myths that it's a bad neighborhood and nothing is there. People see the beauty in the neighborhood, the history and the diversity, he said, and that is what makes Easy Bayside's future bright.
"We've really made progress when we've dispelled the myths," he said.

Room for improvement

Tandem has relied on word of mouth and their wholesale business to attract patrons, Pratt said, and the biggest challenge for the developing businesses is getting people into the neighborhood and showing them it's not just an industrial wasteland.
"People are interested in what's happening down here," she said. "It's a really cool little bubble down here."
When it comes to making improvements in the neighborhood, Hoskins said, there are some infrastructure improvements that can be made but the city is working on them.
District 1 City Councilor Kevin Donoghue said the city has already approved the funding for a connection along Boyd Street that links up to the Bayside Trail, the Anderson Street Byway project and improving trail access along Tukey's Bridge.
Hoskins said the improvements will better communicate that people are in a neighborhood, and draw more people to the neighborhood and attract more residents and businesses.
"I kind of feel like the ball is rolling now," she said.

Doing nothing to promote growth

As growth in East Bayside continues, the city has a simple strategy to foster the neighborhood: Do nothing.
"We need to affirmatively do nothing," Donoghue said, with the knowledge that doing nothing preserves what's there.
Jeff Levine, the city's director of planning and urban development, said the best way to protect uses in both the residential and light industrial zones is to avoid major changes in zoning that might have an adverse effect but still allow flexibility to meet the needs of businesses and residents.
"The light industrial is really unique," Donoghue said, and has either accidentally or through neglect flourished because the city hasn't made any significant changes to the zoning.
Donoghue said there's a concern about protecting the light industrial zone's productive uses and not gentrifying the businesses out of existence.
The city is taking a look at creative zoning for the light industrial zone that protects the existing uses but still allows retail components.
"We're trying to balance those different things," he said.
Allowing housing and serious retail operations in the light industrial zone could jeopardize the businesses in that area, Levine said, and block future productive uses if apartments are put in and residents object to the noise or smells associated with the operations.
Donoghue said the city can meet the demand for retail that's associated with productive uses in the light industrial zone, but the line is crossed when retail becomes a major component of a business, someone is selling products they didn't make or a tasting room becomes a bar.
"I think it's working great, it should continue to work great," Donoghue said, and the city needs to be aware of not letting expanded retail or residential uses creep into the area.
Outside the light industrial and business zones, the housing market is beginning to stabilize in East Bayside with first-time homeowners buying property.
Donoghue said in the way of development, there isn't much acreage for new housing projects, but the Portland Housing Authority has a great opportunity to create higher density housing.
"Washington Avenue is zoned for more density than it's built," Donoghue said, and current regulations allow for building heights between 44 to 55 feet.
Two project are in the works that would build to the allowed density: an Avesta Housing project at 134 Washington Ave. and a private project at 202 Washington Ave.
Avesta is planning an 18-unit building at 134 Washington Ave. The project will create rental housing units built on a 0.235-acre site occupied by a single-family home and detached garage.
At 202 Washington Ave., developers plan to build the East Bayside Loft Homes, which will house three units and will be built into the slope of the hill.
Levine said density is less of an issue along Washington Avenue than the city's current parking requirements for multi-unit buildings.
The Avesta project request and was granted a waiver from the parking requirements, and 202 Washington Avenue includes garage space for the units.
Levine said the city is planning to take a look at its parking requirements to allow buildings to have less parking.
With an eye toward the future, East Bayside's only threat to its growth is itself.
"I think we need to stay on the course we're on," Donoghue said.

AUGUSTA — Senate President Justin Alfond, D-Portland, heralded a tax-reform proposal unveiled Wednesday as an example of bipartisanship in the Maine Legislature.
Proponents of the measure said the proposal will "fundamentally" transform the state's tax system.
The so-called "Gang of 11" unveiled its bipartisan tax reform proposal Wednesday at the State House, saying the measure is aimed at reducing the income and property tax burden on Maine's residents, releasing the strain on household budgets and injecting dollars into Maine's economy, while "incentivizing residency and business in Maine."
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Gary Knight, R-Livermore, in his opening remarks said, "There have been tax plans that came before this one but this one is vitally different. It has the blood, sweat and tears of a bipartisan effort. While polarization may have plagued Washington, it hasn't hit Augusta."
The effort, led by Independent Senator Richard Woodbury of Yarmouth, is endorsed by Republicans and Democrats, including individual members of Democratic and Republican leadership.
Sen. Alfond, in a weekly media sitdown, said, "What we're seeing this week is what we've fostered the entire 126th legislature, bipartisanship, people working together across the aisle."
In a press release, proponents trumpeted the proposal's buy-in.
"Once the elections were over, people expected us to come to Augusta and work together, and that is exactly what we are doing," said Sen. Roger Katz of Augusta, who also serves as the Assistant Minority Leader. "We have come together around a plan that will not only help solve this year's budget but fundamentally transforms our antiquated tax system."
Standing together, the group of 11 outlined their proposal.
"We had a choice: apply more duct tape on the broken pieces or fix it. We chose to fix it and modernize it for the economy of today," said Woodbury. "This is a plan where Mainers pay less. It's a plan that encourages, rewards, and incentivizes people who live and work in this great state."
The measure lowers income taxes to 4 percent for all Mainers. It also achieves "tax progressivity" through two new tax credits: a sales tax fairness credit, and a property tax fairness credit. It raises the sales tax by 1 percent and broadens it to apply to nearly all consumer purchases with the exception of health care and education.
"Our state has experienced great challenges but we know, often times, through crisis comes opportunity," said Sen. Seth Goodall of Richmond, who also serves as the Senate Majority Leader. "What is most exciting about this proposal is that it takes in to consideration the entire picture of how much tax a person pays—from sales, income, and finally property tax — this is crucial."
Goodall, also part of the media sitdown in Alfond's office, said as an individual legislator, he saw the goal is a "stable, fair system."
"Even the governor has acknowledged that he is not a fan of his own budget. This makes a path forward if the legislature so chooses," Goodall said.
Goodall agreed the proposal is bipartisan, a common theme on the day.
Alfond said, "I'm interested because it's being brought forth by 11 members, five Republicans, five Democrats, an Independent, this doesn't happen often. It hasn't happened in my four years, it hasn't happened around tax proposals in the past. I think that uniqueness gives me a little more curiosity."
Alfond said he had yet to delve into the details of the plan, saying, "I look forward to learning more."
But he added, "I think we've heard an outcry from all legislators and from the public around the suspension of revenue sharing, people do not want their property taxes to increase. I think what this plan does is try to look at revenue sharing through the property tax system."
Architects of the plan said it lowers property taxes by creating a $50,000 homestead exemption to all Mainers, and exports a higher portion of the tax burden to non-residents.
"A fair, comprehensive, pro-growth reform package matters more in this economy than ever before," said Woodbury in the press release.
The group statement argued the plan creates a pro-growth economic environment and encourages business in Maine by reducing the corporate tax rate to 7.5 percent and eliminates the estate tax.
Katz said, "If this were easy, it would have been done already. This debate will be a good test for the legislature. How far will our gaze extend? Will we see only as far as the next election, or will we have the vision to look out to the next generation."
The proposal, "An Act to Modernize and Simplify the Tax Code," will be referred to the Taxation committee in the coming days.
Not everyone embraced the proposal with open arms. Mike Tipping, communications director for the Maine People's Alliance, a progressive group, released a press release giving the plan mixed reviews.
"Up to this point, Republicans had tried to disguise some of the tax increases in Governor LePage's budget proposal by forcing towns to do the dirty work of increasing property taxes in order to deal with the elimination of revenue sharing," said Maine People's Alliance executive director Jesse Graham. "This new proposal does away with that fiction by recognizing what Maine people and town officials have been telling them: it's just not fair to make the poor and middle class pick up the tab for tax breaks for the wealthy through hikes in property taxes."
Unfortunately, while the new proposal does mitigate LePage's proposed property tax increases, it does so primarily by increasing the state sales tax, which is also inherently regressive, the alliance argued. The plan also contains an additional income tax cut that would primarily benefit the wealthy and eliminates the estate tax, which only affects a small number of millionaires each year, the group stated.
LePage has argued in the past that cities are not required to increase property taxes based on a lapse in revenue sharing, arguing that those are local decisions.
Another group took aim at the sales tax proposals. The income tax provision would be a hit with small business but raising and expanding the sales tax would be an unforced error, said the National Federation of Independent Business in a press release in response to the proposal to reform the tax system in Maine.
"The income tax is a small business tax and we're encouraged that lawmakers are talking seriously about reducing that burden in order to boost our competitiveness," said NFIB State Director David Clough in the press release. "But we're puzzled by the proposal to expand the sales tax and increase other taxes as a way to make up the revenue.  That would counteract the effect of lower income taxes and mitigate the effectiveness of the reform."
LePage recently issued a letter to municipal leaders, acknowledging in the letter the opposition many mayors, city managers and selectmen have against his budget plan, and admitting it is not a budget he enjoyed putting forward.
"The problem is there are only three large budget areas – education, welfare and revenue sharing," wrote Governor LePage. "We cannot cut $200 million from debt service — the state must pay its bills. The Judicial Branch costs $100 million — courts are already behind, and I will not cut them further. Other core state functions — State Police, Corrections, our Natural Resource agencies — have been cut to the bone to feed continued growth in education and welfare spending, and they cannot be cut further without reducing public safety or our future economy. That leaves only the three large pots of money, and I chose revenue sharing."
In the letter, the governor attached total general fund appropriations for Fiscal Year 2014-15, which shows the bulk of the budget — 44.8 percent — allocated to education. The Department of Health and Human Services uses 35.2 percent, and the remainder of state government accounts for 20 percent of general fund spending, he said.