By: Katherine Waters, Staff Writer
On Oct. 1, Spartanburg held the 30th annual International Festival in Barnett Park. The festival was created in 1985 to showcase the many cultures represented by Spartanburg residents.
The 2015 festival, which was originally the 30th year that the festival has been held, was cancelled due to heavy rainfall. Mexico was slated to be the honored country for the year, and was carried over as the honored country for this year’s event.
Christina Bell, executive assistant and event coordinator for the Istanbul Cultural Center of Greenville, describes the various activities offered at the festival, where her organization had booths open representing Turkey.
“Attendees can walk around the Avenue of Nations and learn about over 30 countries, and they can purchase food at the International Boulevard of Food and purchase items from the International Trade Zone,” she said. “There are passports that children can get for free and go around to all the countries to get their passports stamped. There are four stages and a children’s zone as well.”
The long line of booths set up for the Boulevard of Food had many different countries represented, all run by local restaurants and people. Visitors could recognize The Crepe Factory, Fratello’s and Papa John’s among the many.
The festival has been held in Barnett Park since its creation. Located downtown beside the Chapman Cultural Center, the park is a central location for all seven of Spartanburg’s colleges. Although anyone is welcome to attend, the location and timing of the festival (always the first Saturday in October) make it a prime event for college students to learn about global culture.
Caren Senter is the program manager for Upstate International, a non-profit organization in Greenville that connects the nationalities represented in the Upstate. She also was a part of this year’s festival. Senter says that college students would benefit greatly from the information given about global cultures at the festival.
“I would suggest to college students that attending any international festival would be fun and informative, and they’d have the opportunity to try some delicious ethnic foods,” she says. “Upstate International usually has a booth to provide information about our language classes, International Women’s Club, International Book Club, International Month and all of our other programs.”
Although the 2016 International Festival has already come and gone, students are encouraged to keep an eye out for information leading up to October of 2017. Of course, simply attending the festival is entertaining, but students who are interested in helping out can volunteer with the City of Spartanburg for a larger role in keeping the International Festival successful.
