Fiesta de Argentine

For the last two decades, Azteca de Greater Kansas City has hosted a popular Cinco de Mayo celebration, but this year it’s holding its two-day fair — complete with live music, food vendors, a kids’ carnival, folk dancing, and Avon beauty demonstrations — the weekend before May 5 so that the event won’t compete with the Guadalupe Center’s festival on the Missouri side. Festivities begin at 1 p.m. on both April 30 and May 1 and run through the night, at Emerson Park (South 29th Street and Strong Avenue, in Kansas City, Kansas), but the Cinco de Mayo parade is today only, beginning at 1 p.m. “We parade around the park,” says spokeswoman Viviana Medellin, “and at 2 p.m., the celebration continues in the park.” Emerson Park is located in the historically Hispanic Argentine neighborhood. “It’s a real family-oriented event,” Medellin says. “Our community really comes together
for it.”

Sat., April 30, 1 p.m.; Sun., May 1, 1 p.m., 2011