28 August 2019

At the 2019 Festival of Nations

Last Sunday morning (25 August), I braved the rain to drive to Tower Grove Park (https://www.towergrovepark.org/) in south St. Louis. I attended the Festival of Nations (http://festivalofnationsstl.org/), an annual multicultural festival presented by the International Institute of St. Louis (https://www.iistl.org/).

After parking I walked to the festival site. Despite the rain, there was a good crowd there. After browsing among the food booths, I ordered lunch from a Brazilian booth operated by Brasilia Bar & Restaurant (https://www.brasiliastl.com/). I had vatapa, a chicken dish, and drank Guarana Antarctica soda (https://www.guaranaantarctica.com/en). I browsed among the food and gift booths, representing various cultures of the world. There were also information booths from various organizations that catered to immigrants new to the St. Louis area and internationally-minded citizens. Musicians and dancers also performed.




While walking among the vendors, I bought a strawberry drink from a Filipino food booth, and sesame sweet balls from a Vietnamese food booth.


Late that afternoon, I reported to the volunteer booth and worked a shift as a Festival Ambassador. I helped staff an information booth, answering questions from visitors wondering where the various food and gift booths were located and how long this event was happening. We had a few visitors in that last shift of the festival, and it was a good thing to help the festival and its cause of welcoming immigrants to this area.


Later.