Children's festival to showcase 20 countries

By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- Children can experience and learn about cultures from more than 20 countries at a free event Oct. 10.

Winchester's first International Children's Festival takes place rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in and around the city's Active Living & Recreation Center in Jim Barnett Park.

Organizers found representatives of most of the countries living in the area, according to Amy Simmons, marketing director for the city.

Simmons, along with Leslie Bowery, with the Winchester Parks and Recreation Department, and Charlotte Fritts, an ESL instructor with the city public school system, began working together on the festival about two years ago.

The city's festival is modeled after one held in Hampton and officials there helped the organizers of the Winchester event, Simmons said. Hampton started its festival with seven countries and now has 40, she noted.

"We think we have good representation of what's here," Simmons said. "We have 20 countries, but I think we have 26 or 27 represented in the city school system right now -- through the children, through the ESL program."

The following countries will be represented: Australia, England, China, Ireland, Colombia, Pakistan, Egypt, Peru, Italy, Israel and Palestine, Germany, Taiwan, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Greenland, Greece, Korea, India and France.

The festival includes educational booths representing the countries, live cultural entertainment and an international food court. Entertainment will include dough juggling, Tae Kwon Do demonstrations, traditional Greek dance, songs from around the world, African drumming, Indian dance, Chinese zither music, Egyptian folklore dancing, a mummy relay race, Celtic dancing and a James Madison University Children's Theatre production.

Other activities include an area where storytellers will tell international stories, an instrument petting zoo put on by the Winchester Orchestra and a chance for children to try some of the art forms shown on the main stage.

"It's always nice to have a better understanding of different cultures around the world," Simmons said. "A lot of people that are from the different countries are living here and they are our neighbors."

The festival also follows the Virginia Standards of Learning, Simmons said. Children have a chance to answer several SOL-based questions and turn them into the "U.S. Embassy" for a prize.

"It's always good for the children because they're in the school system together and they do so much together through the schools, and when the children learn, they're understanding -- and so do the families," Simmons said.

Visit the festival Web site at www.winchesterva.gov/icf or contact Amy Simmons at 533-0603 or icf@ci.winchester.va.us for more information.