Mercado on Fifth celebrated its 10th anniversary the day before its first open-air market of the season tonight, May 22, in downtown Moline, with its inaugural recognition awards.
They honor the individuals, businesses, artists, organizations, and community leaders whose contributions have helped shape Mercado into one of the Quad Cities’ most vibrant cultural and economic development initiatives, according to the nonprofit.
The awards ceremony was held at the Mercado community center (423 12th St., Moline), Thursday, May 21, 2026, as part of Mercado on Fifth’s milestone anniversary celebration.
“These award recipients represent the heart and soul of Mercado on Fifth,” said Frances Williams, executive director of Mercado. “Over the past decade, Mercado has grown because of the passion, resilience, creativity, and collaboration of so many people across our region. We are honored to recognize these remarkable leaders and partners whose impact continues to strengthen Latino culture, entrepreneurship, and community in the Quad Cities.”
“Everything that we do here at Mercado is to help support our small business community, to help your community together,” she said, before the Thursday night ceremony and reception. “The very first night of our season is going to be like, elevated, a very special night. Four different main acts.”
This is the first time Mercado has recognized community contributions and those who have supported the organization over the past decade.
“It wasn't like they just showed up for a while and kind of took off,” Williams said. “These are folks who are staying with us the entire 10 years. So this is the first time we're honoring it. Our plan is to continue to honor folks every five years.”
The following are the 2026 award winners:
Community Impact Awards
● Mercado on Fifth Cultural Legacy Award – Crooked Cactus Band, QC Ballet Folklorico, and Victor & Yessy Granados for their outstanding contributions to preserving and sharing Latino cultural traditions throughout the Quad Cities.
● Mercado on Fifth Community Partner Award -- City of Moline and Western Illinois University Small Business Development Center for their partnership and support in expanding opportunities for minority entrepreneurs.
● Mercado on Fifth Mentor Award -- Blanca Moran of Coya’s Cafe (2903 Avenue of the Cities, Moline) for her mentorship and support of emerging entrepreneurs at Mercado on Fifth.
● Mercado on Fifth Generaciones (Generations) Award -- Floreciente Neighborhood in recognition of its enduring contributions to building a vibrant multigenerational Latino community.
● Mercado on Fifth Vecinos (Good Neighbor) Award -- Community Health Care and Boys & Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Valley for their collaborative spirit and commitment to serving local families.
● Mercado on Fifth Promotor/a (Promoter/Supporter) Award -- Abel & Juanita Zertuche, Rosi & Ruben Portillo, John Ramirez, and Antonio Varela for their advocacy and passionate promotion of Mercado on Fifth throughout the region over the past decade.
Business & Economic Impact Awards
● Mercado on Fifth Business Trailblazer Award -- Virginia Castro of Restaurante El Mariachi (1317 15th St., Moline) for her pioneering leadership in the regional food industry and her role as an original Mercado night market vendor.
● Mercado on Fifth Business Growth Award -- Tacos Al Vapor for its entrepreneurial growth journey from Mercado vendor to successful brick-and-mortar business. Its first restaurant opened in 2025 at 3871 Elmore Avenue, Davenport.
● Mercado on Fifth Corporate Champion Award -- Presented in partnership with Group O to U.S. Bank for corporate leadership and investment in advancing economic opportunity and community vitality.
Leadership & Legacy Awards
● Mercado on Fifth Board Leadership Excellence Award -- Jayne O’Brien for her dedicated leadership and service to Mercado on Fifth’s mission and growth.
● Mercado on Fifth Founders Award -- Chris Ontiveros for his visionary leadership and foundational role in creating Mercado on Fifth as a celebration of Latino culture, entrepreneurship, and community in Moline.
Mercado on Fifth is a Latino-led nonprofit organization and community marketplace dedicated to uplifting culture, entrepreneurship, economic opportunity, and community connection in the QC. Through its night markets, cultural events, business development programs, and community partnerships, Mercado on Fifth has become a regional destination celebrating Latino heritage and small business innovation.
A family vision come to life
Williams on Thursday credited Mercado founder Bob Ontiveros and his family for leading Mercado.
“It was his vision, but it was his granddaughter (Maria),” she said. “And then Maria was able to just connect. Members of the Floreciente neighborhood are incredibly valuable to that process. Other folks like Tar Macias and Alvaro Macias and Zobeida Laufenberg, a lot of folks that are from the Latino community who have contributed in many different ways.”
During COVID, they shifted very quickly to doing online Zoom concerts, which got a lot of international attention, she noted.
“So a lot of the families here in the cities would share those with their family members in Mexico. And it became a way to connect the families, even though they had to be apart right at that time. Now, I think what happened in our history was with the growth of their power, it really exploded,” Williams said.
“After COVID, a lot of folks, I think, just had that pent up kind of feeling of needing to then reconnect the community and do it in a safe space where you could still maintain 6 feet of distance but be outside. And then that's when we started seeing like nine, 10,000 people.”
“A beautiful space we have continuing to expand. That little grassy field is what started and now look at this building. It used to be an old auto parts store,” she said of the 6,300-square-foot center at 423 12th St. “And here we are with this incredible community space for us to be able to share with others and to continue to welcome folks to downtown Moline. In the last two years, over 101,000 people have come to downtown Moline; it's incredible.”
The current climate of fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement among immigrants has affected attendance, but Williams is confident Mercado will continue to flourish.
“We are definitely aware of the fear that exists in our community in regards to the use of ICE activity. So we're sensitive to that. But I'm also doing additional outreach for things that we haven't done in the past to try and invite even more communities out,” she said.
“I am only in my third year at Mercado and I still have conversations with people where either they don't know what Mercado is or they've heard about us for 10 years but never have been. And we have incredible talent on our team that captures video and photographs of every Friday night.
“But even that, until you actually come and you visit and you experience Mercado for yourself, I don't think you fully understand how special it really is,” Williams said. “And hopefully you know how much people really love and appreciate the fact that they can come here and relax and start their weekend and trust us to be that space for them.”
The market is open Fridays from 5 to 10 p.m. through September, with an admission fee of $5 for those 13 to 65, and free for all others.
Later in the season, they will host an “America’s Got Talent” style competition, called “Mercado's Got Talentos. Mucho talento.”
“We're super excited to be able to have a program that really honors and continues to honor and support our local community. We also are coming out this year with appreciation nights,” Williams said of honoring veterans, teachers, first responders and union workers.
“All the folks that really make our community so beautiful and bright. We need community more than ever now. And we want Mercado to continue to be that space where people are welcome,” she said. “Everyone is welcome.”
Williams appreciates this space that she and others can share their Latino heritage.
“I am so proud of where I come from and from both sides. My parents were incredibly intentional with making sure that they shared both sides of their culture,” she said Thursday. “And I think that to have Mercado be that space, whether you're Mexican, Colombian, Guatemalan, Honduran, this is a space where we celebrate all those different facets of all the incredible richness and diversity within the Latino community and also be a space for, even if you're not Latino, this is a place where you can come and celebrate and hang out and enjoy the music and enjoy the energy and the connection,” she said.
“The family connection here at Mercado is unlike any other that I have seen in the Quad Cities. And, you know, we do that now year-round, even with our Loteria nights,” Williams said of Spanish bingo nights Fridays November to April. “To see grandparents showing up with their grandkids to play loteria and the kids getting super into it. I mean, this is just such a good old-fashioned family fun that we hope to continue to support and to bring into every year.”
Mercado hosts 44 vendors every week, and they average 20% of vendors establishing permanent store locations.
“That's incredible growth for this region. And we want to continue to support that now,” Williams said. “Being an entrepreneur is not easy. It is really hard work. There are multiple barriers and challenges. We're not here to tell people what they should do with their business. We're here to show them what they can do. And I think that that's the real key to Mercado is that we're hopefully contributing to removing some of those barriers to make the path a little bit easier for everyone.”
While Mercado hasn’t expanded into a weekend festival, on the weekend of Sept. 11, there will be three Hispanic-related celebrations — Mercado on Friday, Sept. 11, a Hero Street celebration in Silvis Sept. 12, and the Mexican Independence Day Parade and Festival Sept. 13.
Strong board support
Jayne O’Brien, a Mercado board member from the beginning, is the former head of Moline Public Schools Foundation and met with Bob Ontiveros over 10 years ago, when he had an idea of what to do with this land, west of 12th Street on 5th Avenue.
“He said, ‘I have this land down there. It's just sitting there next to Community Health Care. I want to do this thing,” she recalled. “And we spun so many ideas of what it might look like. It might be a Saturday farmers market. Finally, we landed on a Friday night market with music and people just hanging. The first year, we probably had 50 people here, sitting under that tree over there. My husband always said it was a cheap date. We could get a couple tacos and a beer.”
“Then I think year three, four, and five, we just exponentially grew,” O’Brien said. “I think it's a unique experience here. You get to immerse yourself in a different culture. I've had so many people tell me it's like walking in the streets of Mexico. These two little city blocks are like walking in the city streets of Mexico.”
“The most beautiful part, I think is the multi-generational facet and that the little kids are just running around outside playing, listening to music,” she said. “I love watching the teenagers dance, you know, especially in today's world. These are the things we want to celebrate.
“We have had just the partnerships and the collaboration and the neighborhood connections have been so powerful and so uplifting that, yeah, we face some challenges, especially when we grew so fast,” O’Brien added. “But every time we faced a challenge, we had problem solvers at the table that said, oh, we can do this.”
Dora Villareal, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, is a newer board member but a longtime Mercado fan.
“When I was offered the opportunity to serve on the board, I was extremely honored,” she said Thursday. “Mercado has grown into such an incredible group and a big part of our community. I am also the daughter of immigrants. I'm first generation. Both my parents immigrated here from Monterey, Mexico and being here in the Quad Cities you just feel such a huge Hispanic presence.
“And I feel that with Mercado it has helped brought that to a whole other level,” Villareal said. “You see real pride in our Hispanic community to be able to show like this is who we are and come and join us and be a part of this. And I just have a tremendous that respect really on merit family and how much of an impact they made here in our community and within the Hispanic community. I love all the work that's been done. I love seeing how businesses have started and grown just because of Mercado. So I'm so glad that all of you are here today and able to celebrate with us our 10th anniversary.”
“It’s just huge and I feel everyone in the Quad Cities knows what Mercado is,” she added. The center allows so much more activity year-round, and open to other area nonprofit groups, as well as private events. “There’s so many people that want to use it.”
Mercado asked Moline-based Bent River Brewing Company to come up with new beers for the 10th anniversary season – they are Tamarindo Fiesta and Claro, the latter a lighter beer, and Fiesta stronger with mango and pineapple. Tamarind produces pod-like fruit.
“In the Mexican culture, they’ll make a candy with it, add a bunch of sugar to it, which balances out the tartness,” Bent River brewer Nick Bowes said Thursday. “Coming up with the beer, as we put more tamarind into it, it got too tart, so that’s why needed fruit to balance out the flavor to it. This is one of the more unique ones, the first time we brewed a beer for somebody else with an ingredient we never tried to use.”
Cameron Saunders of Bent River said they came up with four varieties at first, and then Mercado chose two, which will be sold at the market. Allie Ontiveros, Maria’s sister, designed the beer cans and also recently painted some interior walls in the center.
For more information on Mercado, click HERE.
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