Contact: Sasha Steinberg
Photo by: Beth Wynn
More than 20 nations around the world will be represented April 5 at Mississippi State's 24th annual International Fiesta.
Sponsored by the Starkville World Neighbors Association, the free cultural extravaganza takes place 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on the university's historic Drill Field.
Other co-sponsors include the Starkville Chapter of Kiwanis International, The Purple Elephant, Campus Book Mart & Cafe, American Eurocopter, as well as MSU's Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, President's Commission on the Status of Minorities and Center for Continuing Education.
Event highlights include a parade of international flags, arts and crafts exhibits, costume displays, authentic music, dance, and instrumental performances.
International student organizations also will have a variety of culinary items on sale.
For children, an inflatable bounce house, balloon animals, piñatas, face-painting, relay races and other games and activities will be available.
Additionally, winners of the International Fiesta essay-writing contest will be announced. The contest challenged international students to share, in 1,000 words or less, ideas of how the United States may learn from their country of origin and what they believe they may learn from the U.S.
"The International Fiesta is a great opportunity to expose individuals to the different countries and cultures that exist around us by bringing all of the different pieces of different cultures in one place for educational enrichment and fun," said Ra'Sheda Forbes, assistant director of the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center.
For more on the fiesta, contact Forbes at 662-325-2033 or rboddie-forbes@saffairs.msstate.edu.
Learn more about the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center by visiting www.hcdc.msstate.edu.
Information on Mississippi State University is available at www.msstate.edu.