Skokie, home to great ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity, will showcase 28 cultures at the 33rd annual Festival of Cultures to be held May 17 and 18 at Oakton Park.
Individuals and families will get to meet people representing those cultures at various booths, some of which feature interesting objects, dancing, or interactive activities. In the past, those have included henna tattoos or the chance to write your name in a different alphabet, such as Chinese characters.
“Not only will visitors to the festival experience a huge cultural pavilion,” said festival
chairperson Aryn Fletcher, “attendees will also enjoy two days of ethnic folk music and
dance, a wide range of food and merchandise vendors.”
The opening ceremonies will be held Saturday at 1 p.m., featuring a parade of delegations in costumes from their homelands. The Sunday finale at 5:45 p.m. will feature a Festival of Colors, with music and dance.
The 28 cultures represented will range from Assyrian to Tibetan, German to
Kurdish, Polish to Pakistani, Cameroonian to Chinese, and many more. A full entertainment schedule is available at skokieparks.org/sfoc-entertainment-25/.
The festival will also offer something for the younger set, with a $5 children’s area featuring play and activities.
Food vendors will offer meals and snacks for purchase, and merchandise vendors, some of whom will offer ethnic merchandise, will also be onsite.
The festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Oakton Park is located at the southeast corner of Oakton Street and Skokie Boulevard in Skokie, at 4701 Oakton Street. A parking lot is available but when it fills, attendees can find parking on nearby side streets. The park is a short walk from the CTA Yellow Line’s Oakton stop.
The festival is largely made possible by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council and is presented by the Skokie Park District, the Village of Skokie and the Skokie Public Library.
Find more information at www.SkokieCultureFest.org.
Smita Shah, right, sprinkles silver glitter over the henna design she has just applied to the hand of Yana Williams at the 2023 Skokie Festival of Cultures. (Pam DeFiglio/Chicago Tribune)
