Multicultural Festival Celebrates San Bernardino’s Diversity

On Sept. 28, St. Bernardine of Siena Catholic Church in San Bernardino held a multicultural festival to embrace the city’s cultural diversity, celebrating cultures from all over the world. The celebration has become a bit of a staple, having been held for many decades. “We have been holding this festival for more than 50 years,” said Loraine O’Campo, an event organizer. “In this time, the neighborhood of downtown San Bernardino has become one of great diversity, so our annual festival now embraces the different cultures St. Bernadine Church serves,” she said. During the festival there were many different forms of entertainment to keep visitors in the spirit, including tap and show routines by Sassy Girls, traditional Mexican and South American dance routines by St. Mary’s Ballet Folklórico of Redlands, Mexican and Norteño music by Evolución Tapatía, and music from the Big Band era as well as jazz and Latin jazz by IE Sound. There were also bounce houses, crafts, face painting and games for the children. Also provided at the festival were various cultural cuisines—visitors could enjoy food including hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecued chicken, tacos, tamales, mole, pozole, and Filipino and Italian foods, as well a Sweet Shoppe and beer garden. Arielle Margason, who helped work the face-painting booth, is a regular at the festival. “I’ve been doing this for 5 years, and I volunteer every year,” said Margason. “It’s my way to contribute to the community.” The importance of the event was not only to celebrate the many cultures of San Bernardino, but also to give back to the community, and organizations like Anthem Blue Cross, a well-known health insurance provider, were there to stress the importance of giving back to residents by providing information that could be helpful. Anthem Blue Cross representative Nayli Peri believed in giving back to the residents of San Bernardino and saw this as an opportunity to educate people about healthcare reform. “It’s important for our community to know about [this],” said Peri. During the festival there were many opportunities for participants to win in various opportunity drawings, with a first, second and third prize of $1,000, $500 and $300, respectively. The proceeds of the drawings will help St. Bernardine Church to provide assistance to needy San Bernardino residents.