Cinco de Mayo “Census parade” through Watsonville

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION)

Whether it is a birthday or student and teacher appreciation event, car parades have become the popular way to celebrate during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Watsonville, Tuesday, it was a way to get the word out about the 2020 U.S. Census. Instead of surveyors going door to door, a caravan of dozens of cars drove through the streets encouraging people to participate.

“This is outreach in times of COVID," said Watsonville Deputy City Manager Tamara Vides. "We need to make sure that we do not miss an opportunity to let our community know that the Census is important. And there’s only one chance that we get every 10 years for our community to be count. Now it’s very, very important that people complete their census form.”

And since Tuesday was also Cinco de Mayo - the event's organizers said the event had a "Cinco de Mayo theme complete with a song in Spanish encouraging people to fill out the survey."

This event was put on by the City, local nonprofit Center for Community Advocacy, and the U.S. Census Bureau to raise response rates in Santa Cruz County's "hard to count" communities.

The City of Watsonville's Census self-response rate is just 54.4 percent, which is two points less than the national average, and six percent less than the county's.

People are encouraged to “follow” the Census Car on social media and post pictures with the hashtag #WatsonvilleCounts. People who do this between May 5 and May 30 will automatically be entered to win a prize on June 1.

“We’re hoping to gather attention of our community members and remind them that while they’re home, they can complete their census form,” Vides said.

The Census Car will be driving around through May 30th. In a new released the U.S. Census Bureau writes that they want "to see people waving at a social distance as it comes through, and it will be playing a Banda-style, locally produced Census song created by Radio Bilingue."