The hot, hazy and humid weather didn’t stop people from enjoying music, dance and poetry at the 16th annual Evanston Ethnic Arts Festival at Dawes Park last weekend.
One of the city’s most popular summer events, 15,000 to 20,000 people turned out at lakefront for the event, according to Doug J. Gaynor, director of parks, recreation and forestry.
Seventeen food vendors selling everything from buffalo stew to Thai iced coffee joined more than 125 artists displaying goods from Latin-American antiques to vintage carpet from Tibet at the two-day event. Performers with roots as close to Evanston as the Chicago Bluegrass Band and as far as the Kaminari Daiko, a Japanese drum group, delighted audiences who chose to leave the comfort of air-conditioned homes.
The festival not only hosted diverse cultures, but blended the ancient with the modern. No group better exemplified this than Karma Sutra, who combined traditional Indian music and dance with contemporary music in a performance Sunday.
Karma Sutra member Preston Klik, dressed in black with his dyed blond hair tied in pony tails on top of his head, stood in contrast to Mona Jethmalani who wore traditional Indian clothing.
Jethmalani, who is of Eastern Indian descent, takes pride in her ethnicity and sees Karma Sutra’s music as a opportunity for her to weave her heritage into modern culture.
The Chicago Mask Ensemble, a more traditional group, performed African theater. Olumuyiwa Ojo, the play’s narrator, moved to America from Nigeria in 1989 and helped the troupe choreograph a dance to a Nigerian folk tale.
“It feels good to dance,” Ojo said. He believes that without the festival most people in the area would not be exposed to the type of dance he performs.
One of the more popular performances was given by the West Indian Folkloric Dance Company. The audience cheered as one dancer glided under a limbo pole, his arms at his sides and his body arched nearly parallel to the stage.
Following the company’s performance, Evanston Mayor Lorraine Morton honored resident Tammie Stewart with the Arts and Youth Award for her work as the Production and Training Coordinator for the Evanston Community Media Center. In the past eight years, Stewart has trained more than 100 children to use video equipment and has been involved in video programs at Oakton, Chute and Haven schools.
Theresa Pacione, the festival’s director, said she tries to include people from countries not represented in the past. This year, Evanston students carried the flags of more than 200 nations.
“The festival represents the world,” Pacione said.
The first festival was held in 1986 after the city’s Long-Range Cultural Planning Project decided that Evanston’s minority population was being excluded from its arts planning.
Chicago resident Carol Akiyama has been vending Japanese jewelry at the fair for five years. She said that although she usually does well at the festival, this year’s heat affected her sales. She noted the “very diverse crowd” that attends the event and said the fair’s setting at the lakeshore is beautiful.
Denise Sieja, owner of Trattoria Demi, 1571 Sherman Ave., said the heat also affected sales. Her restaurant has participated in the event for three years.
“Our primary reason (for participating) is advertising,” Sieja said.
Sieja also appreciated the diversity represented at the fair, but she said she feels the layout of the festival could be improved. She also suggested more places to eat and a closer distance between the food vendors and entertainment so patrons could watch and listen while they eat.
Evanston resident David Ramsay brought his 7-year-old son to the festival this year. He said he came to enjoy the music, food and people, but more importantly the diversity and ethnicity the event represented.
