{"id":22009,"date":"2014-09-25T15:30:14","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T19:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=22009"},"modified":"2014-09-29T11:49:14","modified_gmt":"2014-09-29T15:49:14","slug":"smiles-music-hugs-dancing-food-beauty-love-can-be-found-at-the-international-festival-sept-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/smiles-music-hugs-dancing-food-beauty-love-can-be-found-at-the-international-festival-sept-27\/","title":{"rendered":"Smiles, music, hugs, dancing, food, beauty, love, can be found at the International Festival this Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 9,000 people are expected to flow through the Harrisonburg International Festival<\/a> this Saturday (09\/27\/14) swaying to music from a half-dozen areas of the world, partaking of food from multi-cultures, perusing international crafts, wearing or viewing national costumes, and making unity flags at a booth staffed by Eastern Mennonite University, one of the festival\u2019s sponsors.<\/p>\n

All of EMU\u2019s first-semester, first-year students are required to attend the festival \u2013 surely one of the most fun \u201crequirements\u201d a student could have. The university is providing free shuttle transportation from the Campus Commons to the festival site at Hillandale Park<\/a> every half hour, from the time the festival opens at noon to its 6 p.m. closing. (On-site parking is restricted \u2013 check the festival website<\/a> for more details.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe your hearts will be enlarged with the love you will find here, where smiles and hugs and beats that set your feet to dancing will re-energize your spirits in the beauty we share together,\u201d say the festival co-chairs, Vauna Brown and David Kreider, on the event website. (Kreider, who has been a festival organizer for a number of years, holds three degrees from EMU.)<\/p>\n

In this, its 17th year, the festival is recognized as an annual tradition in Harrisonburg, perhaps the most ethnically diverse city in Virginia. Harrisonburg is also one of the most harmoniously livable cities in America by many published accounts<\/a>. Festival organizers believe this is not a coincidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of refugees in our community because of the Anabaptist movements and the responsibilities they feel to help refugees settle here in our community,\u201d explains Brown. In the early years of refugee re-settlement, \u201csome of the churches had monthly potlucks and during those potlucks they would sit around and have a brainstorming about what they could do to [further] help.” From this brainstorming came the idea of a festival.<\/p>\n

Local civic leaders \u2013 from the hospitals to the educational systems to city government \u2013 have not only endorsed the festival, they have stepped up to help create a hospitable climate in Harrisonburg. This year\u2019s list of 59 official sponsors<\/a> reads like a business and non-profit \u201cWho\u2019s Who\u201d of Harrisonburg, with two of the top eight sponsors being EMU and the Fairfield Center<\/a>, founded and directed by EMU alumni.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year we are really focusing on unity and on the richness of our differences, which bring us together into a whole,\u201d says Heidi Jablonski, an 2014 EMU grad who is assisting Brown and Kreider. \u201cThese differences draw people together to make the valley such an interesting and dynamic place.\u201d<\/p>\n

EMU\u2019s Shenandoah Valley Children\u2019s Choir will sing<\/a> with a renowned children\u2019s performer, Jose-Luis Orozco, at 2:15 p.m. This is one of the eight musical performances of the day, which wraps up with the dance-rhythms of a new Eritrean band, Zara.<\/p>\n

Laura Amstutz<\/a> of EMU\u2019s seminary<\/a> is coordinating the making of unity flags, which are somewhat akin to Tibetan prayer flags. \u201cThis is a community art project for anyone \u2013 children, teenagers, adults \u2013 anyone is welcome at the \u2018peace and justice area\u2019 close to Pavilion 12,” she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticipants will get a blank square of fabric and they will be able to put on symbols or prayers or poems that talk about unity,\u201d said Amstutz. \u201cThen, if they want, they can take them with them. Or they can pin them on pieces of string, which will be hung around the pavilion.\u201d She noted that this activity fits with EMU\u2019s focus on peacebuilding<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The festival also provides opportunities for fledgling entrepreneurs to get their start, says Brown, pointing out that at least three restaurants \u2013 the Blue Nile<\/a>, Taste of Thai<\/a>, and A Bowl of Good<\/a> \u2013 got their first exposures at past festivals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 9,000 people are expected to flow through the Harrisonburg International Festival this Saturday (09\/27\/14) swaying to music from a half-dozen areas of the world, partaking of food from ... read more about Smiles, music, hugs, dancing, food, beauty, love, can be found at the International Festival this Saturday<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":22025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5583,14715,5623],"tags":[14116,13758,15104,15376,16080,9294,5690,8791],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-22009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-campus-life","category-special-programs","tag-david-kreider","tag-fairfield-center","tag-harrisonburg-international-festival","tag-heidi-jablonski","tag-jose-luis-orozco","tag-laura-amstutz","tag-peacebuilding","tag-vaunda-brown"],"yoast_head":"\nSmiles, music, hugs, dancing, food, beauty, love, can be found at the International Festival this Saturday - 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