ST. PETER — With delicious smells from a wide selection of cultural foods filling the air and lively performances drawing a crowd inside Johnson Hall, the Nicollet County Fairgrounds was the place to be Saturday.
Sunny weather made for a beautiful afternoon for the St. Peter Good Neighbor Diversity Council’s third annual Festival of Nations.
Ashley Garcia Ramirez, of St. Peter, has been to the event before and was back this time with her family.
“I like how all the cultures are together and celebrating each other, because we’re all different, and it’s lovely to see us bond,” she said.
Indigenous, Latino, Somali, East African and many other cultures were represented Saturday.
Diversity Council co-presidents Mohamed Abdulkadir and Bill Nelsen both agree: when people get to know each other and cross cultural lines, you can see the joy on their faces.
“Increasingly, we’re here to just celebrate this growing diversity. Not to fear it, but to rejoice in it, because that’s part of what America is really all about,” Nelsen said.
“Our name is the St. Peter Good Neighbor Diversity Council. There are other diversity councils, including in Mankato and so forth, but we’re deliberate about picking that name Good Neighbor, because we want to get people to understand what it takes, what it means to be a Good Neighbor. To reach out and care for each other.”
Abdulkadir also said the event builds connection.
“Share food, share culture, share ideas. People who come here, you can see in their face, they are happy,” he said.
Those who caught the indoor performances might have seen the Marv Nissel Polka, the Somali Museum Dance Troupe or the Mexico Azteca Folklorico Dance.
Event organizer Zuleika Abdi, also with the Diversity Council, said the festival allows people to get to know one another.
“It is important because if we don’t recognize each culture, we wouldn’t know how to integrate or how to live with other people, so we live in harmony,” she said.