Free E-zine
For BUSY Parents
SUBSCRIBE
Your info is kept private.
|
Be Your Own Boss
Work From Home
Real Businesses...
Real Solutions...
Click Here
|
Ad Disclaimer
We Recommend
Your purchase
supports this site.
|
New column 1st Tuesday of each month.
Ethnic Festivals: Passport To The world
For 89 years residents of the North End, Boston’s historic Italian enclave, have hosted a feast honoring St. Anthony of Padua, patron
saint of lost and stolen things. To us Bostonians, the North End equals food, and we crowd its fabulous restaurants all year long. But,
come August and the Feast of Saint Anthony, visitors from hundreds of miles around make their way to the North End, and for three days
most of the eating–along with singing, dancing, praying and parading–is done in the streets under twinkling lights and bright
decorations. The venerable, cobbled Italian neighborhood becomes a world-class, everyone’s-welcome block party.
America’s ethnic diversity gives us the opportunity to learn about other cultures and, with hundreds of cultural festivals around the
country, your family can travel the world without going far from home. Spring and summer are key festival seasons, but ethnic
celebrations are held year round. Find listings at
http://festivalsandevents.com and
www.festivals.com.
Whether you spend a few hours at a small local celebration or build a weeklong vacation around a huge, multi-day event, you’ll likely
find:
Food
Boston’s North End Festival advises, “Come Early! Be Hungry!” Wise words. Traditional cuisine is a centerpiece of most ethnic
fests, so give diets the day off and splurge. Sample goodies like meat kebops and zelnik pastries at the Macedonian Ethnic Festival
in Rochester, New York; boiled crawfish at Mudbug Madness, which celebrates Shreveport, Louisiana’s Cajun heritage; jerk chicken, pork
and fish at Chicago’s new Chitown Jerkfest, a celebration of 34 Caribbean islands; pizza and cannoli eating contests at New Jersey’s
Hoboken Italian Festival, held in Sinatra Park; Bangladeshi matha rice drink, Colombian fried plantains and Lithuanian bacon buns at
the Kansas City Ethnic Enrichment Festival, one of the country’s largest and most diverse ethnic fairs, with some 60 countries
represented.
Music And Dance
Ethnic festivals introduce you to music you and your kids might otherwise never hear. Tap your toes to accordion-rich
Zydeco at Shreveport’s Mudbug; gospel, reggae and steel bands at Chitown; cowbells, yodelers, musical handsaws and 13-foot Alphorns at
the German Heritage Festival in Tomball, Texas; Gypsy punk and Russian folk at the Slavic Festival in Eugene, Oregon.
Where there’s music, there’s movement: Salsa and some of the world’s longest conga lines at the
Calle Ocho Festival in Miami’s Little
Havana, epicenter of Cuban culture in the U.S.; polka – even a Polka Mass – at Tabor Czech Days in South Dakota; Klompen, Dutch clog
dancing, at Tulip Time, a Holland, Michigan festival that attracts a half-million visitors.
Skill And Talent Demonstrations
Pull up a seat or gather round a booth and watch people do wonderful things. At the Glass and Ethnic
Festival in Mount Pleasant, a Pennsylvania town that’s home to three famed glass companies, glass blowers and stained glass artists
dazzle the crowds. Impressionist painters at Santa Barbara, California’s French Festival
set up easels and create colorful canvases.
There’s grape stomping at Hoboken’s Italian blowout, Celtic harp and fiddle workshops at New Hampshire’s gathering of Scottish clans,
and martial arts demonstrations at the Oregon Asian Festival.
Kid And Family Fun
There’s plenty, at festivals big and small. From parades, petting zoos and pony rides to fireworks, clowns and
crafts, event organizers make sure everyone in the family is engaged and entertained.
Many festivals have special kid areas. At Jacksonville, Florida’s World of Nations Celebration kids can learn to juggle in the
World of Kids Playland. Miami’s Calle Ocho event features KidzZone, four blocks of alcohol-free entertainment that includes face
painting, hip hop dancing, interactive games and the chance to hang with characters like Nickelodeon’s Diego and Dora the Explorer.
Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in Boone, North Carolina, holds kilted races, wrestling, tug-of-war and Scottish caber toss just
for kids.
Ethnic festivals give you and your kids a glimpse of the wide world and the ways its diverse cultures form and inform our lives.
Richard Horvatic, director of Kansas City’s Ethnic Enrichment Festival, said kids attending his city’s bash love going from booth
to booth getting their souvenir passports stamped. Each stamp means they’ve “visited” another country, and, perhaps, learned a little
about that place and its people.
Spend fun family time dipping into America’s melting pot. Come early and be hungry.
Happy Travels,
Know when this column is updated and...
Get more articles like this in your inbox. Subscribe Today
Share this Fun Family Travel column with a friend.
Don't forget to Bookmark Us.
About The Author:
Lori Hein is an author, a traveling mom and a freelancer specializing in travel writing. Her book,
Ribbons of Highway: A Mother-Child Journey Across America ,
takes you around the U.S., and her blog, Ribbons of Highway,
takes you around the world. Visit her professional site at at LoriHein.com.
* Information provided in this column is for entertainment purposes only.
The information in this column is not meant to be taken as legal, medical, or professional advice. Read legal disclaimer.
* This column is available for your publication, for a F-E-E.
This column may NOT be reprinted without monetary compensation and written permission from the author.
For reprint rights or comments/questions about this article, please contact the author.
|
