by Kyle Wells [email protected] Food, festivities and fun are in store at the first ever Powell River Multicultural Festival taking place Saturday, October 1 at Powell River Recreation Complex.
The festival is being organized by Powell River Council for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Powell River Diversity Initiative, the English Second Language Settlement Assistance Program and Powell River Literacy Council as a joint event to celebrate multiculturalism in the community. The idea for the event stemmed in part from the community dialogues that took place earlier in the year. It’s being held as the next step to promoting inclusion and tolerance in the community.
Purely by coincidence, the date chosen for the multicultural festival falls into the nationwide Culture Days, running from September 30 to October 2. This volunteer-led initiative promotes cultural events in communities across Canada. Last year marked the first annual event of the group and 700 cities and towns in Canada participated. Powell River has become officially involved in the movement and this year will be counted among the participants.
The arts council is providing the use of the venue through its in-kind donation toward access to civic properties for arts and culture events. Ann Nelson, founder and treasurer of the council, said the event carries on from defunct events, such as cultural diversity event once held by the Baha’i community, that are no longer taking place and is a celebration of an important aspect of our community.
“We want to celebrate our differences that make us more textured Canadians than we would otherwise be,” said Nelson. “We all came from some place and we bring with us those influences, good and bad. We can choose to leave behind the bad, but why should we ditch the good? There’s such a rich cultural and ethnic diversity represented in town that it should be a joy to share it with each other.”
The upper floor of the complex will be used for the event, including Evergreen Theatre and Cedar, Arbutus, Poplar and Spruce rooms. A secondary stage will also be set up, just inside the doors of the main entrance, for performances. Arbutus room will be turned into an international food fair featuring tasty selections, as well as cooking demonstrations. Everything from Indian to Thai to Mexican food, and many others, will be available for purchase.
Informational displays and craft vendors will be set up in the main lobby as well as in the Cedar room. These booths are meant to offer a glimpse into the wide range of cultural backgrounds that exist in Powell River and have much to offer the community. There will be some demonstrations in the Poplar Room as well, including sari draping, Ukrainian
egg painting and origami.
A children’s corner, with multicultural activities and stories scheduled for the entire event, will be set up in the Spruce room at the far end of the upper lobby.
“The goal in North America has been assimilation for so many years that we do tend to forget where we came from,” said Nelson. “It’s only been fairly recently that communities are making a point of giving people opportunities to remember and to share that and I think that’s really important. We’re not just one thing or the other, we’re what we came from to get to here.”
The event runs from 10 am to 4 pm and has free admission. Next year, organizers hope to host a two-day event and incorporate more events and media presentations.
