St. Paul will be holding its annual Cinco de Mayo celebration again this year at District de Sol, 149 Cezar Chavez St.   There’ll be lots of five stages of live music, dancing, a l0w-rider car exhibition, and a huge parade.   Free admission.   This event has been growing for many years and is one of the best outdoor celebrations in the area.  For more information call 651-222-6347.

If you can’t make the celebration in St. Paul, you can use this as an opportunity to educate your kids about Mexico’s history and the Battle of Peubla in 1862 in which the Mexicans defeated a much larger French force.  It was important for Mexican independence and marks the last time that an army from another continent invaded the Americas.  Have your kids do some reading and they’ll gain a new insight into our neighbors here in the Twin Cities area as well as south of the border.

You can reinforce the lessons by serving  Mexican cuisine.   You can keep it simple with tacos or fajitas, or do something much more elaborate like enchiladas.  Local supermarkets will be well-stocked with the appropriate ingredients.   And after two or three, nobody will care if you had to use Mr. and Mrs. T mix to make the margaritas.