It was a short to the point positive review. “It was better than I expected,” my eight-year old said while strapping himself into a seat-belt in the back of the car. He wasn’t sure what a multicultural festival meant when we defined it to him. He didn’t know what to expect at the event. We told him it will be fun. We told him in addition there will be different music, interesting dancing, maybe different food if he is willing to try; but he only perked up on the mention of bouncing castles and made smiling eye contact on the mention of seeing a friend from school.
“We are a multicultural country – always have been, and to our credit, always will be. It is something that we should be very proud of and embrace.” Cheech Marin
He may not fully grasp just yet what culture or multicultural means; however, we are glad that he had his first good experience during Aurora’s Multicultural Festival held last September at the Ada Johnson Park and kudos to the Town of Aurora for making it happen. It happened once before three years ago (Aurora’s Sesquicentennial Year). It seemed like just the right time to plant a seed. A multicultural seed that was planted and is going to be part of our growing Aurora community, perhaps for another one hundred and fifty years.
He enjoyed crafting from paper, running in the mazes and jumping in the jumping castles. Did he notice anything different, out of the ordinary? Of course he did. He probably started to associate this event with things he has learned in school the last few years. He knows food and language is unique between cultures. The music, the dances and the vibrant colourful clothing on display was something somehow new to him that day.
So in the years to come we are looking forward to the continuation of Aurora’s Multicultural Festival. Community festivals such Aurora’s Multicultural Festival enable us to take a moment out of our lives and celebrate our community diversity and uniqueness. In my opinion it is also a great venue to show our children, that despite all the cultural differences in our community, that we are all the same people and we can all play together. Children learn by example, and we parents, grandparents and anyone in the community, we can be that example.
Aurora’s Multicultural Festival last September was not a one time deal and we look forward to seeing a better and hopefully bigger event next year, just like other wonderful regular events we have in our community. Next one we love visiting is Aurora’s Haunted Forest this weekend at Sheppard’s Bush. Here you can watch what to expect: AURORA’S HAUNTED FOREST, ARE YOU SCARED YET?
Anna Lozyk Romeo
Aurora, ON
