Culturally Sound
By Andrew J. Fitch, contributing writer
Posted on October 2, 2006

HARRISONBURG — The ninth- annual International Festival was held Saturday in Hillandale Park. The festival was open to the public and offered international foods, music, dance, art activities, a multi-language area, artists and vendors to all who attended.
This year’s festival was the largest it has ever been. Nosha Namahoyta, an artist who imports most of her materials from West Africa, was amazed at the size of the festival.

“It’s the largest of the international festivals I’ve been to,” she said. 

Vaunda Brown, a co-chair of the festival, confirmed that the event has grown considerably.

“The festival increased by 1,500 people this year,” Brown said. “We’ve grown a lot and we’ll continue to grow in the future.”

This increase brought the estimated number of attendees to 6,500. 
Vietnamese and Venezuelan cuisine met Kurdish music, which met Zambian arts and crafts. Namahoyta noticed the diversity of the venues as well.

“[The festival] is great; there are so many countries represented,” she said.

Engdawork Arefaine, an Ethiopian, worked as a caterer at the International Festival when it started nine years ago, and was able to open the Blue Nile restaurant as a result of his success. “We’re always the longest line,” said Arefaine.

“We’re always asked to open before twelve because the line gets so long and lot of people liked [Ethiopian cuisine], so we opened the restaurant.”

The diversity of the festival impressed senior Lauren Kemp, a JMU student who volunteered at the festival as a representative of Alpha Phi sorority. “It’s very enlightening. You don’t realize how many nationalities are here in Harrisonburg until you come to this festival,” Kemp said. 

A group of friends from Harrisonburg High School agreed that the festival was a great way to learn about different cultures. “[The festival] helps people from other countries get together,” Marie Abeba, a Rwandan student, said. 

Tina Masic, a JMU international student from Bosnia, really enjoyed the cultural experience of the International Festival. “It was awesome; I loved it.  It brings all the people together; it’s a big melting pot,” she said.

Many of the festival’s attendants agreed the International Festival has a positive effect on Harrisonburg’s community. “The festival strengthens the community and gives people the opportunity to interact with people that they normally, on a daily basis, wouldn’t normally interact with,” Namahoyta said.

“It’s just a wonderful event.  It says a lot about our city of Harrisonburg,” said Arefaine.

Brown discussed the purpose of the festival and stressed its purpose is to both celebrate the diversity of the Harrisonburg community and educate others about these cultural differences. “We build community by being community,” she said.