Multicultural Festival attracts more than 600 people

Bloomington resident Erich Nolan said he feels that culture in America can be lacking at times. He believes it's important to experience people, music and art traditions from around the world. \nOne of the ways he accomplishes that is by attending the Bloomington Multicultural Festival. Members of the community came together at City Hall's Showers Plaza to celebrate the fifth annual Multicultural Festival Sunday. By 2 p.m., more than 600 people came out to experience cultures from all over the world.\nNolan and his wife are members of the capoeira group Estrela do Norte that performed at the festival. Nolan brought his three children because he said that it's important to expose them to as much world culture as possible.\n"A big reason why we live in Bloomington is because it's a small town with a lot of culture," Nolan said.\nBloomington resident Youngwon Yeom found out about the festival from her children, who heart about it at school. A favorite booth for Yeom's children was the Klingel-Engle puppets. Yeom is from Korea and was impressed by the entertainment from Samulnori, a Korean drum ensemble.\nSamulnori was also a favorite performance for Bloomington resident Dave Knox. Knox has Scottish ancestry and originally came out to hear the Southern Indiana Pipe Band and visit the Scottish Society of Greater Bloomington's booth but decided to stay and enjoy the rest of the performances.\n"Music is the universal language. Everybody understands it no matter where it's from. It connects everybody," Knox said.\nBloomington resident Khalil Muhammad read about the festival in the newspaper and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to see different groups of people from around the world on what he called "a beautiful Sunday." Muhammad's 4 and 6-year-old children participated in the festival's passport project that entailed collecting stamps from the different booths after completing an activity. Muhammad said his 4-year-old daughter Jordan's favorite activity was making a quilt at one of the booths.\n11-year-old Robert Meya was at the festival with his friend Jamil Moore, also 11. Meya's mother was working the German School booth. Meya goes to the festival almost every year. He said he thinks the festival is fun because there are a lot of people, and he gets to hear new kinds of music.\n"The atmosphere is really great, and our moms make us go, too," said Meya.\nMoore's father Tim Moore is involved with the Arab American Association, which had a booth at the festival. Tim Moore feels it's important to have festivals like this one for people to learn about other cultures.\n"The more we understand, the less fearful we are. It makes the world a better place," Moore said.\nMoore would like to have seen more students at the festival, he said. Moore feels that Bloomington is a great town with a lot to experience, and IU students are lucky to have their University here. \n"It's the nicest town in Indiana," Moore said.\nKatie Hartin, 16, played in the Bloomington High School North Mariachi Band that performed at the festival. She left after her performance but came back with her friends.\n"More kids need to learn about this," Innes said. "Bloomington is a cultural oasis, and a lot of people our age are not aware of that."\nHartin suggested a way to attract more young people to the festival.\n"If you want people to come," he said, "have free food"