It’s Tres de Mayo—time to break out the chiles and get a head start on your Cinco de Mayo festivities! Picante tastings include Super Chile Toffee Squares by Poco Dolce, and Dave’s Gourmet Hot Sauces, which range from “hurtin” to “total insanity.”

Rose Johnson of Hot Bike! will lead a lively salsa-making demonstration, and Academy botanist Gilberto Ocampo will present varieties of chiles and the chemical compounds that cause them to taste hot.

Learn to salsa dance at 7:30 and 8:30, then put your saucy skills to work with the musical stylings of DJ Erick Santero whose influences range from El Salvador and Guatemala to New Orleans and Oakland.

Additional music by DJ Frisko Eddy.