Global City Norwich is hosting a Multicultural Festival on Saturday, Aug. 26 from 1 until 6 p.m.
The festival will celebrate various cultures with music, dance, art and food. Performances will be held at locations throughout the city.
In the heart of downtown, people are invited to journey through cultures at the Broadway Street Garage, Norwich City Hall, Bath Street and Jubilee Park.
"Our Multicultural Festival is more than an event. It's a testament to the unity in diversity that Norwich embodies. We invite one and all to join us in this beautiful celebration of cultures," said Bobbie Braboy, director of Global City Norwich.
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The festival is designed to be a celebration of diversity and unity. It will feature entertainment including an Italian band, the Latin Essence Jazz Band, a salsa band, African and Asian performing arts, Sikh martial arts, among other multicultural performances.
In preparation for the festival, Global City brought in artists to paint the edges of the parking lot at Bath Street. The lot was once forgotten, but the city is focused on sprucing up the space.
Last year, the Norwich Street Art Collective commissioned a mural at the corner of Bath Street and Broadway.
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“As we approach this multicultural festival we wanted to use it as the impetus to keep that change going and continue,” said Kevin Brown, who leads the Norwich Community Development Corporation. “We are nudging it along. We are making change step by step at a time.”
The city just received additional funding from the state to continue making improvements downtown. In the meantime, Brown said they will continue working on the space and making it a place where people want to gather - both for the festival and beyond.
“So that people can really get a good understanding of what the community is about,” Braboy said.
To learn more about the festival, click here.
