Monday, October 6, 2014

International in the Upstate

We had a great time at the City of Spartanburg's International Festival on Saturday. Held annually in Barnet Park for 29 years, the festival attracts an estimated 12,000 visitors to downtown Spartanburg, SC each October.


Our Greenville friend Sarmīte has been organizing the locals to represent Latvia for many years, and we joined the fun about four years ago. Lauris even made this year’s brochure – see if you can spot our flag-waving hero.


Maybe you noticed on the map we were again placed next to Cameroon and South Africa on the Avenue of Nations. This means once again my head was drumming a similar beat in the evening as the one that kept tempo for the drum circle the next tent over. I’ll forgive them, but I can’t forgive the Greek food vendors for running out of gyros before I managed to swing by. The International Boulevard of Food was truly impressive this year, occupying the stretch of Converse Street for the first time, instead of the sidewalk running parallel to St. John Street where it has been many years in a row. We saw the addition of a bier garten and a much larger International Sports Zone as well.


As always, we marched in the Parade of Nations, perhaps in our largest numbers yet. Numbering twenty-one in our group photo, I estimate almost double that having stopped in at some point or another throughout the day. Lūcija kept the boys (and a visitor or two!) occupied creating little acorn figures while they weren’t running around getting their passports stamped, completing the trivia sheets (with mom’s help) or chasing the world-colored beach ball around with Finn. We didn’t even make it over to the Kids’ Zone, although we had a prime vantage point of the Worldwide Showcase Stage from our end, with all of its belly-dancing, Japanese-drumming, Latin-band glory.



With 37 countries participating, food and goods from around the world for sale, demonstrations in everything from martial arts to fencing, the Spartanburg International Festival is a free event like no other in South Carolina. I’m proud to represent Latvia in this global affair, and hope that our numbers here in the Upstate keep growing right along with the festival! Uzredzēšanos nākamgad Spartanburg!


See Spartanburg’s website here, for more information.

My post on last year’s festival is here.

9 comments:

  1. I love international festivals like this. I have such fond memories of many childhood days spent at the Folk Fair in Milwaukee.

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    1. Back when anyone could provide food for these festivals without all the red tape, the Chicago Latvians would cook up thousands of ābolu pankūkas for the local festival... and sell out! I miss dancing at the Museum of Science and Industry, at the annual Christmas Around the World...

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    2. How neat!!! I love international festivals. Our country does such a good job promoting other countries/cultures. AND--when we go to these festivals, we learn so much about that country and its people. LOVE IT...

      I'm sure you and your family had a great time....
      Hugs,
      Betsy

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    3. Thanks for your comment Betsy, I agree!

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    4. Yes, before the red tape, the Latvian ladies in MKE baked dozens of tortes, lots of aleksandra kukas and abolmaizes, and who knows what other amazing goodies. Years later, people would still stop any of us in Latvian folk costumes and ask where the Latvian food was!

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  2. I'm sorry that I had to leave just before this festival! Everyone looks so nice, and what a great craft (maybe we'll borrow the idea for our Miķeļtirgus)!

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    1. The only difficulty is making the holes in the acorns - an ice pick is needed to get it started. Not a good idea for some little hands?

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  3. Es nevaru vien nobrīnīties, cik Jūs esat patriotiska un latviska ģimene! Kā Jums to izdodas saglabāt, esot prom, svešumā??? Malači!

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    1. Dabiski - mēs uzaugot gājām uz latviešu skolām, nometnēm un nodarbībām, mājās runājām latviski. Liekas pavisam normāli to pašu darīt ar mūsu bērniem!

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