Above is the Sunday afternoon crew - Left to righter are: Rotarians Al Anile, Dr. David McWhinnie, Greg Franks and Raman Grover.
Greg Franks is the coordinator of the Skokie Valley Rotary Club booth, as he has been for the past several years. Bottle water and pop is provided by the Skokie Park District, and revenue generated from sales goes back to them.
The event, held at Skokie’s 19-acre Oakton Park, has grown over nearly three decades from 14 cultures with 1,000 attendees, to more than three dozen cultures and 25,000 visitors, annually. Over two days in May, visitors enjoy ethnic folk music and dance on two stages, arts and crafts, international children's games, food, cultural booths, a merchandise bazaar, a mini train ride around the park, and the festival’s iconic flag display. The festival has been honored with both state and national art event programming awards.
The first Skokie Festival of Cultures was initiated and planned in 1990 by a newly-formed Skokie ethnic diversity committee, as well as the Skokie Human Relations Commission, Skokie Park District, Rotary Club of Skokie, Village of Skokie and the Skokie Public Library.
Read more about the history of the Festival of Cultures here.
Interested in your culture taking part?
On a personal note, I hope this beautiful event is changed to a different month, because from my experience the weather has been rainy and cold almost every year.