Natalie Burke, 6, and Jeff McMillin, 9, get help from Joy Walter, left, and Jeff’s grandmother, Judy McMillin, while making Mexican decorations Tuesday during the Southern Cultural Heritage Center’s Cinco de Mayo art workshop. The children also made a Macaw rattle shaped like the bird and enjoyed homemade tacos and beans brought by Vernon Anaya, a native of Santa Fe, N.M., who has lived in Vicksburg for six years. Anaya said that the holiday on May 5 celebrates the defeat of the French by Mexico in 1862 at the Battle of Puebla. Natalie is the daughter of Lori and Paul Burke. Jeff is the son of Andrea Gainnie and Mike McMillin. (Suzanne Feliciano*The Vicksburg Post)