A small gesture. A much bigger giveaway.
It began with American customers around downtown Cabo handing out small amounts of candy. The neighborhood trick-or-treating tradition they knew from the United States wasn’t something local children had grown up with.
One Halloween afternoon in the late 2000s, Don sent staff out to buy all the candy they could find—about 200 kilos. Cabo Cantina took that small gesture to a much larger scale, and the response surprised everyone.
The crowd came first. The street closures followed.
Word of the huge candy giveaway spread quickly. Within perhaps 30 minutes, so many children and families had gathered that traffic could no longer get through. Don remembers the police watching in amazement as the crowd effectively closed the street for about an hour and a half.
The following year, the police came to Don beforehand so they could plan together. Cabo Cantina doubled the candy, and the police closed two lanes while keeping one open for traffic.
That arrangement continued into the third year, when our candy supply had grown to a full pickup truck load brought down from La Paz.
As the family crowds kept growing—and downtown’s later adult Halloween parties expanded too—the authorities moved to a full street closure beginning at 5 PM, starting at Cabo Cantina.
A first stop for young families
Today, young families make CC their first stop. By 6 PM, the arriving line can stretch two blocks. A 30-meter line of tables runs along our street frontage and into the courtyard, where dozens of customers hand out candy while our staff continually restock them.
The children leave with a huge haul. For us, the joy is seeing families return year after year to a tradition our customers and staff have built together.