Some 27 nationalities and cultures will be represented at the 30th Annual Skokie Festival of Cultures May 21-22, consolidated at Oakton Park this year after being scattered through several dates during the last year for pandemic-related reasons.
More than 25,000 people are expected at the 19-acre Oakton Park, at Skokie Boulevard and Oakton Street, to experience the weekend of ethnic folk music and dance, arts and crafts, a wide range of food and cultural booths devoted to the participating nationalities.
In addition to the United States, cultures participating will be Armenian, Assyrian, Azerbaijani, Belizean, Bulgarian, Chinese People’s Republic, Croatian, Estonian, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Iraqi, Irish, Israeli, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Lithuanian, Luxembourgian, Mexican, Norwegian, Pakistani, Swedish, Thai, Tibetan and Turkish.
A number of additional cultures will be represented in entertainment acts on several stages.
“This will be the first year since 2019 that the Festival of Cultures is taking place as a two-day festival,” said Crystal Haben, Oakton Community Center manager. “In 2020, the event was cancelled and in 2021, we were able to offer smaller events within the guidelines of COVID restrictions.
“So in 2021, in lieu of one large Festival of Cultures event, we offered several smaller cultural programs throughout the month of May. This year, with COVID restrictions lifted, we wanted to bring back the larger two-day festival hoping to bring the community back together to celebrate again. As we expected, we do not have the amount of cultures participating like we did pre-COVID, but it’s a start.”
Cultural participants are turning out in larger numbers than Haben and fellow park district staffers projected.
“We reached out to all of the previous participants to see if they wanted to return to represent their culture,” she said. “Luckily, many of them did. I originally thought many people might not be ready and we may only have 10 to 15 cultures participate this year.
“We will continue to try and grow participation numbers in the years to come.”
Daily festival hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Opening ceremonies are at 1 p.m. May 21.
Serving as festival emcee will be Ukraine-born Alekssandr Krapivkin, former longtime resident of Skokie and frequent volunteer at the event. Krapivkin is now a professional actor, living and working in New York.
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Also appearing will be a representative of the Navy Band Great Lakes, singing the National Anthem as well as local, state and national dignitaries with a parade featuring all of the cultures represented.
A $5-per-day children’s area featuring play and activities will be a centerpiece. Giant inflatables, including a bounce house and a big slide, will keep the kids moving. A petting zoo and arts and crafts also will be featured.
Two stages will feature a variety of entertainment from around the world.
Kicking off the main stage’s lineup at 11 a.m. May 21 will be an eclectic trio of acts. Leadoff is a Ukrainian group called the Chicago Cossacks. Next at 11:40 a.m. is Conjunto Superior, a Cuban group. And at 12:20 p.m., the place promises to be shaken up by the Middle Eastern performance of Bellydance by Phaedra, who returns at 1:45 p.m. with a workshop on the interactive stage.
Two performances by the Northern Illinois University Laotion Folk Group wrap up interactive stage programs at 5:05 p.m. May 21.
On May 22, the main stage will host the multi-cultural Skokie Concert Choir at 2:20 p.m., the Bulgarian Ensemble Horo at 3 p.m., Kokyo Taiko: Buddhist Temple of Chicago (Japanese) at 3:40 p.m. and the Jewish Junior Klezmer Orchestra at 4:10 p.m.
On the interactive stage on May 22, the Appalachian cultural The Spoon Man will perform at 12:45 and 1:25 p.m. The Polynesian NaKupuna Ukulele Club will sent out its notes at 2:05 and 2:45 p.m. At 3:25 p.m., the multi-cultural Skokie Theatre Cultural Heritage Show will be the showcase.
Food vendors include Blackhawk BBQ and Seafood, Tamales Express, Windsor Ice Cream and Lee Concessions.
The festival was first initiated in 1990 by a newly-formed Skokie ethnic diversity committee and the Village of Skokie, the park district, the public library, the Rotary Club and the Skokie Human Relations Commission. The village, park district and public library continue to be presenters along with the Skokie Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
For more information about the festival, call the Skokie Park District at 847/674-1500 or visit the official Skokie Festival of Cultures website at www.SkokieCultureFest.org.