COEUR d’ALENE — A living, breathing mosaic of traditions and heritages from around the globe will come together this weekend at Lakes Magnet Middle School.

The school’s third Multicultural Faire takes place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m and celebrates the world’s cultural diversity with a focus on music, arts and crafts, and food. The entire community is invited to attend, and admission is free.

Lakes teacher and fair organizer Dave Eubanks said the event is a way to teach the school’s sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students that beyond North Idaho, Earth is populated with multitudes of unique cultures.

“With the world seemingly getting smaller every day, the more our kids learn about the world, its peoples, its customs and traditions, the better their chances for success will be in it,” Eubanks said. “And we want our kids to know that most of the world is not a scary place at all. It is filled with moms and dads and families pretty much like North Idaho, who have hopes and dreams about the same as ours.”

It’s a local effort, he said, to help gather people from many different backgrounds in a fun, positive and educational way.

The inaugural Multicultural Faire, held in 2010, attracted 800 people to the 15th Street school, and 1,000 community members turned out last year. They’re prepared for even more this weekend.

“At this time we have people coming to share their cultural treasures from Germany, Ireland, France, Great Britain, Mexico, India, the Philippines, Hungary, Poland, Argentina, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Italy, Jamaica, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Zambia, the Salish people and possibly El Salvador and Iraq,” Eubanks said.

Providing food for a nominal charge will be Texas Roadhouse Toro Viejo Mexican Restaurant, O’Shays Irish Pub and Restaurant, and possibly Tomato Street and Pita Pit.

The stage line-up includes the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department’s Pipe and Drum Corps, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Shooting Star Dancers, Arvid Lundin and the North Idaho Scottish Fiddlers, the Texas Roadhouse line dancers, Barry Aiken, Colby Acuff, Chris Hammons, Avery Strobel, Kent Nelson’s School of Rock featuring Carli Osika, the Polish Rythmic gymnasts featuring Magda Staszewska, Argentinian Tango Dancers, the Sorensen Marimbas, jugglers and African drummers.