The Brockville Multicultural Festival is back for the first time since 2019. Held at the Brockville Memorial Civic Centre, it features music and dance performances from around the world, highlighting the diversity in the City of the 1000 Islands. “It’s amazing to see the diversity, the different cultural heritages we have in this city that come out to celebrate together,” said Matthew Raby, the festival’s program director. Booths were serving food and unique artifacts from Turkey, the Philippines, the Caribbean, South Korea and many others. Kevser Taymaz, running the Turkish booth, says there are only a handful of families from her country in Brockville, but the event is about sharing what they have to offer. “We want to share our history, our touristic places and our delicious food,” said Taymaz. The festival has been running since the 1980s, but over the years, participants have noticed that it doesn’t quite look the same as it used to. More countries have set up booths because of the growing diversity in the Brockville community, according to Raby. “It really does remind us that as Canadians, we have a ton of diversity. And that’s our strength as a nation and as a people,” he said. Brockville native Yvonne Francis, running the Caribbean Canadian Association’s booth, has been attending the festival for as long as she can remember. “Growing up here, you didn’t see the diversity,” she said. “Once it started to grow and you saw different cultures moving in, every culture sharing, it was a great experience.”
