“I already had a good day,” said Natalie, age 9, at the first ever West New York multicultural festival on Saturday, June 25, which she attended with her parents, sister, and their two dogs. “I ate and ate everything. Salami, zeppoles, chicken, and mini-empanadas. The salami was my favorite.” Before they came to the festival, the family spent the morning at the city’s pet fair in Donnelly Park.
Yaima Eng went to the festival with her two sons, 5 and 12 years old. She’s lived here for three years, and in Cuba for seven years before that.
“I’ve never been to anything like this,” she said. “My son got a brochure in school, so we came to eat and watch dance performances.”
This was the first multicultural festival in town, so Jennifer Bonet and her 5-month-old daughter, who have lived here for eight months, came to see what it was all about. “One of my Facebook friends tagged me in the event,” she said. “My family is from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.”
“I’ve never been to anything like this.” – Yaima Eng
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Another dance group came from Utah for six days to practice and perform for this festival. Sharon Garcia, the chaperone for the 44 kids, said her daughter is one of the dancers. “We had a good time in New Jersey. This is the first time we’ve seen the East.”
Many vendors came with an educational mission. A stand with Spanish translations of books by African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman Frederick Douglass also included a history of Douglas’ time as U.S. diplomat in the Dominican Republic. The publisher, José Novas, said he researches the history before translating or rewriting the books.
“Some books take five years to finish,” he said.
A lesson in good diet
Rutgers University teamed up with the New Jersey Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to show residents how many sugar packets are in common soft drinks, sports drinks, and more. Residents learned some drinks have as much as 9 sugar packets. NJSNAP provides nutrition education for adults, seniors, and schools that have 50 percent or more children receiving free or reduced lunch. They showed residents solutions to improve their diets and nutrition, such as demonstrating that making homemade iced tea with lemon and two packs of sugar is much better than buying a Snapple.
As the day got hotter, residents watched dance performances with ice pops, iced teas, and cold waters in their hands. One vendor handed out free samples for ice pops, and hospital vendors handed out free waters and health supplies.
Samantha Meyers can be reached at samantham@hudsonreporter.com .