Unity & Diversity Booths and Performances Planned for Festival
The Unity and Diversity Festival planned for Sunday, April 27 at Heritage Park in downtown Walla Walla will feature 23 booths, three food vendors and 15 performances, along with a chess tournament and some children’s activities.
Booths are to be set up by 11:00, after which performances will begin with Steppin’ Country Dancers, followed by Native American tribal drumming and dancing.
The formal opening of the festival will be at noon, with the reading of the mayor’s proclamation by Walla Walla City Council member Gustavo Reyna declaring the 27th of April Unity and Diversity Day in the City of Walla Walla, and urging all residents to work for the unity of our local community, national community, and world community.
The opening ceremonies will also include a land welcome by Jeanine Gordon of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
The remainder of the day’s performances at the park include diversity stories by storyteller Rebecca Hom, Japanese music by Kazue Guss, and Asian stories by Tobey Ishii Anderson during the lunch hour. El Color de Mexico folkloric dance group will perform at 1:00, followed by an African story by Pedrito Maynard-Reid. At 2:00, Troupe Azure will perform Middle Eastern Dances, after which Walla Walla International Folk Dancers will perform Balkan and Mediterranean dances.
Russian-Ukrainian choral and instrumental music will be provided by members of the Russian language Evangelical Baptist Church at 3:00, followed by Hip Hop dancing by Josh Glenn and friends at 3:30. At 4:00, Shadrack’s Delight will perform contra dances to the music of the Wednesday Night Band, and at 4:30 there will be a salsa dance contest with music by DJ Alan.
The final acts of the day will be at 5:00, with dancers from Walla Walla University, including a Burmese dance from Myanmar, a Filipino dance, Hawaiian and Micronesian dances.
Booths will include Akin, AAUW, Blue Mountain Action Council, Blue Mountain Health Cooperative, Children’s Museum of WW, Congregation Beth Israel, Crows Shadow Institute, Cultivate Peace, Downtown Lions Club, Evangelical Baptist Church, First Congregational Church, Frenchtown Historical Foundation, Friends of Children of WW, Walla Walla 2020, W.W. Immigrant Rights Coalition, W.W. Pride, W.W. Public Library, W.W. Rural County Library, W.W. Symphony, W.W. Valley Civility Project, Whitman College Native American Outreach, Whitman College Pan-Asian Club, and YWCA, as well as La Ramada Mexican Inspired Cuisine, Shewa Ethiopian Cuisine, and Trinidadian Cuisine, a chess tournament sponsored by the W.W. Chess Club, and a festival information booth by the W.W. Diversity Coalition, sponsor of the event.
For more information, visit the Diversity Coalition’s website at wwdiversitycoalition.org, contact festival coordinator Daniel Clark at danielnclark12@gmail.com, or call 509-629-2791.
