Celebrating cultural diversity
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/08/2012 (4975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
SOURIS — Food, clothing and music from cultures around the globe were on display at the third annual Souris Glenwood Multicultural Festival on Sunday.
Lynne Mackay is the chair person of the Souris Glenwood Multicultural Association and she said Souris is becoming more of a multicultural community.
“There are Columbian, Mexican, Filipino and African people coming here to work and settle with their families,” Mackay said. “This celebration is to help make people aware of what our tradition and culture is and vise versa — so we can learn more about the Canadian culture.”
The event’s coordinator and master if ceremonies, Laura Symons, said the highlight of the festival for her is watching people come together and sharing their culture.
“There is a diversity of people here that wasn’t here when I moved here 14 years ago. It’s important for people to understand each other’s culture,” Symons said. “There’s still people with prejudice that need to be softened. We hope this festival helps soften their hearts towards other cultures.”
Julianne Pabuayon moved to Souris from the Philippines four years ago to work at the hospital and she said the Filipino community has been growing steadily since she moved to town.
“There are 10-15 Filipino families living in Souris, mostly working in the Hospital and at Maple Leaf. There are more people coming here all the time and there are so many kids here — it’s great,” Pabuayon said.
Tena Bergwall travelled from Brandon to take in the event and her favorite part of the festival was the dancing.
“It’s excellent, I’m really enjoying it. The food is really good, but they were out of perogies and I didn’t get any,” Bergwall said.
There were food vendors from seven different ethnic origins at the festival: Columbian, Mexican, South African, Ukrainian, Scottish, English and Irish.
Recently returned home to Souris from the Canada Cup in London, Ontario where he was scouting for the San Diego Padres, Murray Zuk said the multicultural festival is good for the community.
“There are people living here with different backgrounds and this helps introduce their culture to the rest of the community,” Zuk said.
Symons said she believes the event has been huge success.
“We all want to live in peace, to accept each others religion, culture and way of life and to raise our children together,” Symons said.
The festival included entertainment by Island Vibe, Sensational Internationale, a Korean Violinist, Japanese Drummer, an Inuit writer, as well as inflatable bouncers for children.
» rbooker@brandonsun.com