Assiniboia ethnic festival celebrates diverse cultures in community

People around the world celebrate their achievements with food, music and dance. The community of Assiniboia celebrated the food, music and dance of multiple cultures at the third Ethnic Festival. Mayor Bob Himbeault welcomed all the newcomers to this town south of Moose Jaw.

“Certainly over the last couple of years we’ve seen the ethnic face of our community change a lot,” he said at the opening ceremony. “We’ve had people from all over the world join our community.” Dave Marit, local MLA and Minister of Agriculture described the event as fantastic.

“Not only was Canada built on immigration, but Saskatchewan obviously was really built on immigration. We continue to grow because of immigration.”

Ukrainian dance

After the parade of nations featuring more than 100 ethnically costumed folks, 10 hours of entertainment and ethnic food drew people from Assiniboia and district. Food booths included Ukraine, Philippines, China, Italy, Mexico, India, Greece, France with dishes from perogies to east

Indian butter chicken and French pastries, Chinese food and pie.

Music and dance represented Greece, France, Burundi, Ukraine, Ireland, Japan, Korea, First Nations. Philippines, Caribbean, Scotland and India.

The colourful Abahebera Drummers were a hit with one drummer balancing his Burundi drum on his head.

The drums are hollowed out from the umvugangoma tree, the tree that makes the drums sing, and covered with animal skins treated to withstand beating with stakes. The Greek band Arkadia continued the tradition of breaking dishes at celebrations.