Salmon Arm's multicultural mosaic will be gathering together later this month in celebration of diversity and community.
The Shuswap Immigration Services Society (SISS) is preparing for its annual Gathering Together Festival, being held in downtown Salmon Arm on Canadian Multiculturalism Day, Friday, June 27.
Held at the Ross Street Plaza and parking lot, the event will offer a mix of music and dance, food, games and opportunities to learn about different cultures, with booths representing Ethiopia, Trinidad, Switzerland, Columbia, Venezuela, Vietnam, India, Ukraine, Nepal, Turkey and Syria, as well as tables hosted by community partners including the Salmon Arm Metis Association, Shuswap Food Action Society, Commnity Futures, Shuswap Pride, Rise-Up Indigenous Wellness, the Okanagan Science Centre and others.
The event will begin with a land acknowledgement by Neskonlith Knowledge Sharer Louis Thomas and welcoming words from MP Mel Arnold, MLA David Williams and Salmon Arm Mayor Alan Harrison. Afterwards, the Ross Street Plaza stage will host performances representing a variety of cultures – Slovakia, Ukraine, India, Turkey, Syria and others. There will also be a ukulele performance and an appearance by Shuswap Pipes 'n Drums.
In addition, there will educational games for kids (with prizes to be won), activities and several food trucks.
For organizer Arpita Dash, the fesitval is a "beautiful way to learn about how the world looks."
This will be Dash's second Gathering Together Festival. She has been in the community for about a year and a half, and currently looks after community connections for SISS.
"It was pretty cool, we had 15 booths – people who showed their country, and we had performers from different countries and community partners, and we had nearly 800 people visit last year," said Dash.
Dash hails from Bengaluru (Bangalore), a city of more than 8.5 million people in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. There she worked for 12 years as a mechanical engineer with Mercedes Benz. She moved to Salmon Arm to be with her spouse who works with an engineering firm.
While exploring the community Dash found the Shuswap Immigration Services Society, where she started as a client before coming to work with the organization.
"I’m liking it… I’ve almost kind of forgotten I was once upon a time an engineer," said Dash.
Dash said she loves the Gathering Together Festival and the opportunity it provides to learn from others about the world outside of Salmon Arm and Canada.
"It’s very much important to me because I am an immigrant," said Dash, explaining how since arriving in Salmon Arm, though people have been very nice, she often finds their knowledge of the world to be limited. "People always ask me, 'how can you speak such good English?' Those questions. 'Oh, you’re an engineer, do women do engineering in India?' Those stereotypical prejudices have to kind of fade out…
"This is a beautiful way for people to come together and see how things are, to talking with people at each booth and learn about their country. I feel this is a good thing."
For more information, visit sissociety.ca.
