'We want to learn about others': Global City Multicultural Festival

While there’s normally multiple cultural festivals run by Global City Norwich through the summer, they’re trying one big festival this year.

On Aug. 26, the Global City Multicultural Festival will take place from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Bath St. and lower Broadway.  Like the prior Global City events, there will be food, arts and crafts vendors, activities, performances, and more.

The Multicultural Festival was organized this way since there wasn’t enough time to organize high-quality individual festivals, as current Director Bobbie Braboy started in the spring, she said.

The festival will feature performances between Bath St. and Broadway. The performers include Latin Essence Jazz Band, Kathianna Celestin, Jay Daly, Blooming Into Greatness, The Siblings Revadeneyra, ByrdStayLow, Sikh Martial Arts, Asian Performing Arts Group, and African Drum Teacher Matthew Dean, Braboy said.

So far, local cultural organizations have been excited for the larger Multicultural Festival format, Brayboy said.

“They’re excited to come together with other cultures,” she said.

Angelina Gardner, owner of Uncle D’s Blazin’ BBQ, is a fan of the new format. Expanding the festival to a whole weekend instead of individual festivals is “the ultimate festival.” When festivals are for a single culture, they tend to get mostly people already from that culture, and few people from outside that culture, she said.

'Teach about our culture and learn about others'

“We want to teach people about our culture and about Norwich, and we want to learn about others,” Gardner said.

The Multicultural Festival also gives a chance for multiple cultures to be celebrated without leaving any out, and gives more choices in community participation, Braboy said.

“They can go to a Spanish food truck and eat Spanish food, and they can listen to an African drummer play drums, and they can go and see Peruvian dancers,”  she said.

Cape Verdeans reconnecting

Gardner is also the vice president of the Cape Verdean Santiago Society of Norwich. The organization wants to use the Multicultural Festival to inform people that it’s active again, she said.

The Santiago Society was founded in 1939 on Talman Street, and was a staple in the Cape Verdean community for decades, providing people with resources and a social hub. Gardner remembers good times going with her parents as a child on Sundays after church. The men would play a card game called bisca, the women would cook, and everyone ate.

“Times change,” she said. “People are working Saturdays and Sundays and there’s no more weekend.”

The Santiago Society’s building burnt down in 2006, and the organization became inactive around 2013. The organization started holding Cape Verdean festivals with Global City in 2019, with many of the same people, and has been moving forward ever since.

“We can still be an organization without a building, ” she said.

The Santiago Society will be in attendance providing information about the Society and Cape Verdean history in Norwich , and possibly serve Cape Verdean food.  The Uncle D’s truck will be there too, serving it’s usual fare, which includes jag, or Cape Verdean-style rice and beans, Gardner said.

All of New London County is invited to the festival, and should come if they can, Braboy said.

“We will have food, music, and activities for the kids from cultures from all over the world that can be found right here in Norwich,” she said.

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Global City to hold Norwich Multicultural Festival on Aug. 26