Hello! Bonjour! Buenas Dias!, Bom Dia!, Buon Giorno!
Namaste! ...and Sawatdee to you today. Good to see you. Help yourself to a mug of
Jamaican coffee and a French pastry, why don’t’cha?
Nong and I went to the 2014
Multicultural Festival at the Cornwall Civic Complex on Saturday. It ran
Saturday and Sunday but at least one of the participants was unaware that it
was on Sunday as well. Oops!
We were a little confused when we got there. Signage could
have been better. The first thing we saw was a group of tables in the corridor
downstairs with folks exhibiting art. Walking past that display, we got to the large room
where the festival was being held. Granted, we arrived fairly early but well past the
reported starting time. There were perhaps 8-10 tables of people and national
displays. We went primarily because at two of our friends were involved in the
Thai display. Yada was there in her Thai dress. The above picture shows Nong
and Yada. Less than half the main part of the room had participating
cultures/countries. The rest of the room was full of empty tables.
At one end of the room there was a seating area and several
dignitaries. MP Guy Lauzon spoke briefly (and brevity in political speeches is
always appreciated). He spoke about how we need to get these newcomers to
Cornwall and environs integrated into the workforce and the community. Good
idea.
At the other end of the room was a ‘Silent Auction’ which
was ‘A Parade of Nations For the Developmentally Challenged Fundraiser’. I did
not see the developmentally challenged fundraiser. Perhaps it would have been
better worded as ‘A Parade of Nations and Fundraiser’ for the Developmentally
Challenged.” (They did get it right in French). I don’t get the connection
between the multicultural event and the developmentally challenged, do you?
A large part of any culture is food and the cultures that
were there – China, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Estonia, Indonesia, Cameroon,
Sri Lanka...have really delicious food that Cornwallites would have delighted
in tasting – except...there was no food. A ‘Marketplace was advertised but this
was people selling their arts (mostly outside the main area) and crafts but not
a single chapatti, egg roll, curry or riceball was offered. In my opinion, this
was a big mistake.
I could rant on about bad timing. It was held in the middle
of Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend when folks are elsewhere bargain hunting
including many travelling across the US border or up to Ottawa plus there was a
major curling event happening right next door.
On the positive side, Cornwall benefits in many ways from a
multicultural event such as this and I congratulate the city for putting it on
and the organizers for their hard work. It is not easy to get so many cultures
onside. I know...I spent 20 + years planning events and conferences around the
world. I was disappointed in the participation and the turnout, although perhaps
more people came later. We only stayed for a while because it was lunch time
and there was no food anywhere – so we went to Jack Lee’s – a longstanding
Chinese Buffet and cultural experience a couple blocks away.
This is the kind of event where, in my humble but experienced
opinion, one needs to get not only the various cultural groups involved but the
embassies, consulates, tourist boards and local ethnic restaurants to make the
event pop! Food attracts people. You just have to look at the crowds attending Ribfest to see that. Heck, get the
travel companies involved, too. Cornwallites take vacations. What a missed
opportunity to talk to folks about going to some of these exotic destinations!
Anyway...a good effort guys but please, use it as a learning experience and at least consider food (essential) and timing next year, okay?
See ya, eh!
Bob
PS: Since I am likely ruffling a few feathers here, no pun
intended, I may as well ruffle a few more by wondering out loud if the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne was invited to participate. I apologize if they were there
later and I didn’t see them but if not, it seems to me that they have a vibrant
culture that is definitely a part of our community and should be involved. I know
they have their own Pow-Wows and that they occasionally have been know to ruffle local feathers but this was billed as a multicultural event, no?
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