Three-thousand people gathered for a cultural fair in Sioux City on Sunday.
The Faces of Siouxland Multicultural Fair served up a melting pot of ideas, food and entertainment at the Sioux City Convention Center.
A chance for people of all backgrounds and ages to join together, including 10-year-old Rain and her five-year-old friend Anna.
“Everyone and their nationalities and countries come together,” said Rain.
“There’s a lot of things to do. There’s a lot of good things,” said Anna.
“What balloon do you have?”
Melanie Arnold spent the afternoon here with her husband and two kids.
“Teddy is three and JP is five.”
Arnold enjoyed the energy of the event.
“It’s a lot of fun, I have never been before and learned about a lot different organizations I didn’t even know existed.”
One of the many organizations taking part, the Mary J. Treglia Community House.
“We have immigration legal services, we have translation services, English-language learning. We have a preschool.”
That’s Molly Dowell Baum, an English Language Learning Instructor at Mary Treglia. She also brought her family along to experience this mixture of cultures.
“I really love the performances, the dancers with their bright Mexican skirts flying everywhere. We are going to see east African dancers, and Vietnamese dancers. I mean, I just love it.”
“Soon we will start breaking through all of the prejudices and see we are all part of the same humane race.”
The Sioux City Human Right Commission hosted the 28thannual gathering. Executive Director Karen Mackey enjoys seeing people from all walks of life here.
“People don’t think Siouxland community being ethnically diverse but it really it.”
REPORTER: “Do you think Sioux City embraces cultural diversity or do you think we have a long way to go?”
“We still have a way to go. But, we are getting there. I think we just need to be inquisitive about other cultures and ask questions. People are willing as long as it comes from a good place in their heart.”
The Multicultural Fair provides Siouxland with the answer to uniting people from different beliefs and backgrounds.