Free food draws crowd to food festival |
| Posted by Administrator on Mar 05 2008 at 3:48 PM |
Photo by Daniel Apolius
Kelsey Koch of Omaha, and Laura Steinke of Grand Island enjoy activites at the Food Festival.
By Daniel Apolius
Antelope Staff
The International Food and Cultural Festival has been entertaining and feeding UNK students and Kearney residents since 1976.
The festival draws crowds young and old to watch the many events and to enjoy the different dishes from around the world.
The festival filled the lower half of the Health and Sports Center. Students and residents were greeted with a warm smiles and aromas of flavorful dishes floating up from the tables filled with food.
Booths were set up for respective countries and offered a verity of displays and activities for spectators.
South Korean students had a booth where they painted small symbols from their country on people's faces.
Japanese students wrote characters and names on sheets of paper for others in their traditional language.
Jordan VanWinkle, a junior from Chappell said, "This is a great event for Kearney residents to experience the many cultures that come to UNK."
The delegate women involved wore brightly colored garment of blue, purple, yellow, lavender, and reds, they created a lively color contrast to the steel gray skies of Nebraska.
Kelsey Koch from Omaha said, "I love that our international students can share their culture with us, I really love to see them in their traditional clothing it's such a difference from wearing shirts and jeans."
Entertainment in the form of piano solos, choreographed dances, fashion shows, and karate demonstrations entertained the crowds while they ate ethnic dishes.
Jessica Fritsch a sophomore from McCook said, "The African dancers were by far my favorite, I just love their brightly colored costumes."
Brenda Tichner a UNK adjunct faculty member said, "This is great, the diverse cultures involved interacting with one another mean that the students and people that attend learn about each others cultures, and each year is an improvement from the last."
Each delegate from the International Student Association invested time and effort to ensure this event was successful.
Rahima Ramanova a junior from Uzbekistan said "It takes a lot of work to put on this festival but it's nice to see the smile on peoples faces when it comes together."
