Global music, dancing, ethnic foods and an educational tour of the world at the annual Wyandotte County Ethnic Festival on Sat., April 5, 10 to 6 p.m at the Pierson Community Center, 1800 S. 55th St., Kansas City, KS. The event is free and open to the public.
With a mission of fostering a climate of inclusiveness and promoting relationships and contact among all people, this year’s festival will feature 50 organizations and ethnic groups from Wyandotte County.
“We all love our own cultural traditions,” said Karen Hernandez, a former board member at KCKCC and co-founder of the event. “This festival allows us to witness how others love theirs. We all have this day to display and acknowledge MLK’s ‘Beloved Community’ and learn how to live more peacefully together every day.”
The event includes great ethnic food, entertainment and some special guests.
There will be plenty of great ethnic food available in a new kitchen area featuring foods from Kenya, Jamaica, Gambia, Mexico plus healthy fresh vegetable dishes from gardens in Wyandotte County. Cash only.
Entertainment will feature the Mavka Ukrainian Dancers, Irish Dancers, Thai Chi Fan Dancers, Fiesta Mexicana Dancers, Danny Hinds Art in Motion live music, Nartan Dancers of India, Peruvian Dancers, gospel music, and Chinese Folk Dance.
The day will kick off at 10 a.m. with Shawn Derritt, Dean of Student Services at KCKCC, and brilliant gospel singer,performing “America the Beautiful.”
The Kansas City Kansas Community Orchestra will be performing from 5 to 6 p.m. .
A Creative Korner for children will include a henna artist and staffed by art students at Kansas City Kansas Community College.
Curtis V. Smith, Ph.D., coordinator for the festival and trustee for the Wyandotte County Historical Society will have his new book for sale and signing at the WyCo Museum booth, Kansas City Kansas: Cultural Rhythms in Ragtime and Jazz: How a small African American community changed the history of American music.”
There will be an acupuncturist available, a genealogist for those who want to research their family tree, two awards given to two Legends of Diversity, a special MLK Exhibit, and for those with historical inquiries, representatives from the Wyandotte County Museum.
For updated information on the entertainment schedule go to https://cvsmith64052.wixsite.com/wyandotte-county-eth.
