International Fest

On Saturday, April 26, 2008 the city of Chico, California held an International Fest at the downtown City Plaza.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with International Fest, it is a one day celebration with food, music, and dancing from cultural organizations associated with California State University, Chico. 

Although it was hot outside, the event turned out to be a very fun day.  But the event was about more than just getting together with some friends and listening to some music and trying foods from different cultures.  The events main focus was to bring diversity and culture to the people attending.  The student organizations that participated, brought diversity and culture to the plaza by wearing clothing from the culture and serving dishes for a small fee.  Some of the groups that participated in the festival were the Filipino Student Organization, Lambda Theta Nu (which is a Latin-American Sorority), Nu Alpha Kappa (which is a Latin-American Fraternity), Hmong Student Organization, and the Indian Student Organization.  Also the Chico State Study Abroad Program was there passing out flyers and information for students interested in traveling to different countries for a semester.

The other thing that could hardly be overlooked was the music playing throughout the day.  There were many acts playing throughout the day including the Oregon band, Brothers of Baladi, and Orchestra Gitano from Santa Cruz. There was a great turnout and everyone was dancing to the different bands all day long.

I thought the festival went very well.  I got the chance to try some foods that I had never even heard of before, which was a lot of fun.  I also got to talk to some of the organizations about some of the events and meetings they are going to be putting together for the Fall ’08 semester and how they are trying to get students to participate and get to know more about the different cultures that their organizations represent.

Over all the day was a blast with good food, good music, and good fun!