DENVER — With great weather slated for this weekend, this year’s Cinco de Mayo celebration in Denver is expected to draw big crowds. On Friday, the Denver Police Department revealed its plans to keep the celebration safe.

Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday that commemorates a victory over French forces in 1862. Today, it is a time-honored and much celebrated tradition in Denver. And when tens of thousands of people get together to celebrate, nobody wants the event to go smoother than DPD.

“We want everybody to come out and enjoy the weekend,” said Marc Fleecs, DPD’s District 4 Commander. “We also want to make sure we have public safety and [that’s] at the top of our priority list.”

And when it comes to booze or buds and driving, DPD says just don’t do it. There are plenty options available, including public transportation, ride shares, taxis and sober friends.

There will be lots of cars on Federal Boulevard, and police say there will be lots of officers there as well.

“We anticipate heavy traffic up and down Federal Boulevard this weekend, just like we normally do every Cinco de Mayo weekend. We are going to be heavily staffed,” said Reecs.

DPD says it has a three-phase traffic plan that can include temporarily closing Federal in both directions.

“Typically,  that dissipates traffic enough where it frees up everything,” said Reecs.