Between performers showcasing music and dance from around the world, countless culinary delights to choose from and sunny skies overhead, visitors had everything they could ask for at the Festival of Nations.
Organized by the St. Peter Good Neighbor Diversity Council, the Festival of Nations aims to bring all peoples in the community together through celebrating the wide variety of cultures that make St. Peter and the surrounding region what it is today. Artisans of all stripes — musicians, dancers, artists, craftsmen, storytellers and chefs — were invited to use their gifts to showcase the traditions of their cultural heritage.
The international celebration allowed visitors to partake in cultures from all around the globe. It’s the only time of year where locals could enjoy feasting on shawarmas from the Middle East, stringing together indigenous medicine pouches, listening to the music of a Mexican ensemble and boogying alongside a Somali dance troupe — all in one place.
This year marked the festival’s second annual outing after its debut proved a smashing success with over 1,000 attendees. Thanks to the warm weather and the variety of activities sprawling across the Nicollet County Fairgrounds, the crowds were even larger the second time around.
{p dir=”ltr”}One of the key features of the Festival of Nations was its spotlight on culture-sharing entertainers. The lineup opened with the Nimbe Ensemble. Traveling all the way from Mexico, the quartet stopped by St. Peter in their tour of the United States to walk around the fairgrounds and spread the joy of music.
Guests later crowded into Johnson Hall to watch Twin Cities-based dance troupe Ballet Folklórico México Azteca perform a series of choreographed dances inspired by the traditional folk dances of Mexico. The dances ranged from ladies twirling in a circle displaying colorful, ribboned Jalisco dresses to men clanging machetes above their heads and below their knees. Even some of Ballet Folklórico’s youngest students got in on the fun as young girls in floral headdresses swished their skirts.
The teens of the Somali Museum of Minnesota Dance Troupe encouraged everyone to get on the dance floor to take part in traditional dances from Somalia. The audience came together to form a circle with boys on one side and girls on the other. Each of the dancers then bounced along to the music and threw their hands in the circle.
Mis Raices Dance Collective, a Southern Minnesota dance troupe, showcased their own take on the folkloric dance of Mexico while Battle Creek Drum and Dance Troupe, who may be recognized in the area for performing at the St. Peter Indigenous Peoples’ Day Walk, exhibited pow-wow dances outdoors.
The festival also featured local entertainers like Molly Kay Stoltz, who performed flamenco dances from Spain, and Nancy Busse, a puppeteer who told stories of nursery rhymes and fables from around the world.
While feasting their eyes with the festival’s lineup of multicultural entertainment, guests could taste foods from around the world including Ireland, Mexico, Somalia, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Guatemala, the Middle East and Asia through the event’s extensive lineup of food trucks and its own international kitchen. The kitchen featured free food donated by local businesses like Patrick’s on Third, China Town, La Mexicana Market, J’s Sambusa and Schwarmania.
In addition to a good meal, guests could pick up pottery, jewelry, paintings and other items on display at the artists and vendor market. Community members also got creative themselves by contributing to the interactive mandala chalk art design outside Johnson Hall, and stringing up medicine pouches with materials supplied by NAPAC.
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