Published September 10, 2018

Celebration of Campus Diversity

Monmouth’s 24th-annual Cultural Festival, to be held Sept. 15, will feature festive food and entertainment.
A scene from the 2017 Cultural Festival, held on the Dunlap Terrace outside of the Stockdale Center.
A scene from the 2017 Cultural Festival, held on the Dunlap Terrace outside of the Stockdale Center.

MONMOUTH, Ill. – Monmouth College will host its 24th annual Cultural Festival on Sept. 15.

The event, which will be held 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on The Quad behind the Stockdale Center, will showcase the countries that are represented by Monmouth’s current international students. The rain site is the Stockdale Center.

Free and open to the public, the festival will include food sampling from and cultural entertainment, some of it provided by Monmouth student organizations.

“This is an excellent opportunity for the campus and local community to come out and enjoy the diversity of our community,” said Director of International Student Services Erika Buckley.

Cuisine from around the world will include Ghanaian dishes of jollof rice, kele wele and platanos fritos. There will also be Japanese chicken teriyaki, French madeline and Belgian gentse waterzool. Those with a taste for dishes closer to home can sample a pair of soul food staples – fried chicken and macaroni and cheese – as well as two American classics – hot dogs and chocolate chip cookies. Other countries represented with food items will be Australia, China, Nepal and Syria.

The audience will be treated to traditional Bollywood/Indian dance by the ensemble Payal, as well as steel drum music by Potts & Pans. Scheduled performers also include two Monmouth groups – Umoja and Colorful Voice of Praise – as well as the Teranga Dance & Drum Circle, the Najwa Dance Corps and Tradicion, a Latin dance team from Western Illinois University. 

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