Bell Tower Shops holds 5K and Margarita Mile

A shopping center race sounds like a gimmick. But at Bell Tower Shops in Fort Myers, that gimmick is basically the point. On Saturday, May 2, Cantina Laredo hosted the third annual CincoRita Run — a Cinco de Mayo-themed event that mixed a timed 5K, a 1-mile run, a 21-and-up Margarita Mile, brunch, and drink specials into one morning package. The news here is simple but telling: Bell Tower and its restaurant tenants are turning holiday weekends into foot-traffic events, not just sales weekends. ### What actually happened? Runners showed up at Bell Tower Shops for three separate events tied to the CincoRita Run. The lineup included a traditional 5K, a 1-mile race, and the Margarita Mile — the novelty race that gives the whole thing its identity. Gulf Coast News described it as a family-friendly morning built around races, food, drinks, and activities, with Cantina Laredo as host. ### Why is the Margarita Mile the hook? Because a plain 5K at a shopping center is easy to ignore. A “Margarita Mile” is memorable — and Bell Tower’s own event page leaned into that by calling it the crowd favorite. The promotion also set an age line around that race, with outside race listings noting it is for participants 21 and older, which makes clear this was meant to be playful but still structured. ### How was the morning structured? Pretty deliberately. The 5K was set for 8:00 a.m., the 1-mile for 8:10 a.m., and the Margarita Mile for 9:30 a.m. Packet pickup ran the night before at Fleet Feet Bell Tower and again race morning at Cantina Laredo. That schedule tells you this was organized less like an informal mall activation and more like a real local race with a party bolted on afterward. ### What came after the running? Brunch and bar specials — which is where the retail logic becomes obvious. Bell Tower’s event listing advertised a brunch buffet with scrambled eggs, French toast sticks, potatoes, sausage, and fruit, plus drinks like Micheladas, Bloody Marys, spicy pickle margaritas, the house CincoRita, sangria, and beer specials. So the run was also a handoff into on-site spending. ### Why hold it before Cinco de Mayo? Timing matters. This year Cinco de Mayo falls on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, so a Saturday event gave organizers the holiday vibe without asking people to show up on a worknight. Bell Tower’s page explicitly pitched the race as happening just days before the holiday, which turns the weekend into the real celebration window. ### Is this a one-off or part of a pattern? It looks like a pattern. Bell Tower has been using themed runs as event programming beyond this weekend — including its separate “Rockin’ Around the Bell Tower” holiday 5K later in the year. And the CincoRita Run itself is now in its third year, which means this is no longer an experiment. It’s recurring programming. ### Why does that matter? Because open-air shopping centers need reasons for people to show up in person. Online shopping can handle transactions, but it cannot do a race, brunch, and holiday atmosphere in one place. Events like this turn the center into a venue first and a retail destination second — which, turns out, is near. ### Bottom line This was not just a fun local run. It was Bell Tower Shops and Cantina Laredo using a 5K, a 1-mile race, and a Margarita Mile to turn Cinco de Mayo weekend into an in-person destination. For runners, it was a themed morning out. For the shops and restaurants, it was a traffic engine dressed up like a fiesta.