Whirling skirts, multicultural art and global tastes took center stage Friday evening as Golf School District 67 held its 11th annual International Celebration of Cultures.
More than 200 people packed Golf Middle School’s gym to visit the display tables of more than a dozen countries, which were mostly manned by school families who claim that national ancestry. Each table had cultural treasures on display, a tri-fold poster board listing fun or informational facts and big pans of savory and sweet foods to ladle out to visitors.
Then entertainment took over the stage, ranging from tae kwon do to Filipino dancing to hip hop, Bollywood, and traditional German and Romanian folk dancing.
“People are always amazed how many families come to the event who maybe don’t attend other PTA or school events during the year,” said Kristina Otte, a District 67 parent who organized the celebration.
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“I hear comments like ‘this is such a special night’ and they can’t believe how much food is prepared in advance, how good the entertainment is each year. The most common thing I heard last night was ‘this is my favorite school event of the entire year.'”
Fumi Koike of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Japanese Preschool and several parents and children from the school, which is in Niles, were manning a crafting table, guiding people in how to fold delicate papers to make small origami sculptures. They also had Japanese masks, dolls and toys on display.
Another popular craft was found at the India table, where kids lined up to have Mrs. Shah, a parent and trained henna artist, draw henna designs on their hands.
Renate Toth, a German language teacher stationed at the Germany display, pointed out that the teddy bear on the table was made by Steiff, a famous German toy making company. There were also Macki and Mucki hedgehog dolls, which were popular German toys in the 1950s and 60s.
Prior to the event, Golf Middle School students in Ms. Joyner and Ms. Vojack’s classes researched different cultures and gathered into small groups to make the display boards for the event. Some of them contained maps of the countries, other had flags and phrases in that country’s language. For example, the Norwegian board asked, “Did you know [Disney’s] Frozen takes place in Norway?
Some of the parents brought valuable artifacts, such as at the Greek table, where parent Anna Sikoral had brought silver-framed icons and silver jewelry.
Most of the food was made by parents, and included crepes handmade right at the Luxembourg table, homemade lefse (Norwegian flatbread), Korean chop chae, homemade pierogis at the Poland table, matzoh balls and tomato-cucumber salad at the Israel table and cassava cake at the Philippines table. Kappy’s Restaurant and the Charcoal Flame restaurant also provided some food.
Entertainment was provided by the St. Matthew’s Eisah Dance Team (Japanese), Niles North Filipino Club, Niles North Auroris Dance Company, Rhythm & Beyond Corp., Chang’s Tae Kwon Do & Fitness Society of the Danube Swabians and the Children’s Romanian Dance Group.
“I’ve been helping with this for the past three years, and every year I’m so amazed by how diverse our district is and how lucky my kids are to have friends from around the world,” said Otte. “Events like this really capture this pride that people have in where their families are from, and it’s the one night each year that we all share in that and learn from each other. It’s so much fun!”