To celebrate the diverse cultures that can be found throughout Cochrane and with Alberta Culture Days running through September, the Cochrane Immigrant Services Committee (CISC) is set to hold their eighth annual CultureFest event on Sept. 9.
The free family event will take place at the Cochrane Lions Event Centre from 1 to 4 p.m., and will give visitors the chance to experience different lifestyles around the world first-hand.
CISC president Kristina Kindree said this year’s CultureFest will host 19 different cultural representatives and feature 10 unique performances.
Countries represented this year include England, the Philippines, Mexico, Syria, Ukraine, Egypt, South Korea, Thailand, India, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, Argentina, the United States, Ethiopia, Australia, Nigeria, and Nepal.
“And then we have a couple of cultures that we are waiting to confirm for the cultural performances, but we have the Philippines, Scotland, Thailand, India, England, Ukraine, Syria, and Mexico,” Kindree said.
Compared to how CultureFest originally started in 2015 as a citizenship ceremony, Kindree said it has evolved over time and is now a staple event in Cochrane.
“We started off with the citizenship ceremony, as well as the cultural displays and performances that all took place at the Historic Ranche Site in August, and we had the community picnic for a few years,” Kindree said. “Then the event evolved into CultureFest and the citizenship ceremony became a separate annual event in Cochrane.”
Through these annual events, Kindree explained that CISC is helping strengthen Cochrane’s sense of diversity and inclusion, while also promoting a stronger and better community.
“It helps foster creativity, innovation, empathy, and social cohesion,” she said. “I believe that promoting diversity and inclusion will make Cochrane a better place to live.”
Kindree added another benefit of the event is it gives Cochranites the ability to experience new cultures first-hand.
“It’s a win-win, as cultural representatives love to promote their culture, and at the same time the people of Cochrane also love the event, so it became an annual event for us,” she said.
As CISC’s president, Kindree felt CultureFest is an ideal way to increase awareness for cultures that can be found around Cochrane.
“We are the Wild West with diverse cultures and a very inclusive community,” she said.
Kindree would like to extend a gracious thanks to the many volunteers taking on leadership roles for the event and all of the sponsors for the event.
