Global Fest offers new night market, free entertainment

The Garifuna Collective will perform during the Global Fest on Sept. 21 (Courtesy photo) Download image

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The annual Global Fest event will be presented as a street festival from 2-10 p.m. Sept. 21 in the area of Northwestern Avenue and South and Columbia streets. 

Those who go will be able to enjoy and explore world cultures through music, dance, crafts, displays and international food all day. Continuous stage entertainment, cultural displays and children’s activities are among the free events. The festival also will include the international night market, featuring delicacies from all over the world and local craft beer. The international night market will be open from 5:30-9:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. This annual event is presented by the City of West Lafayette, Purdue Convocations and the International Center of West Lafayette. 

A naturalization ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. Sept. 20 at the White Horse Christian Center, 1780 Cumberland Ave. Soon-to-be U.S. citizens swear an oath to the United States and receive their official certificates. The ceremony will feature special guests and a performance by the Purduettes. The event is free to attend.

The Global Fest’s main stage will have entertainment from 2-10 p.m. and there is no admission. Events will be held to celebrate Greater Lafayette’s diverse community and world cultures through music, dance, crafts, displays, international food and craft beer. Performances will include Black Voices of Inspiration, Boiler Bhangra, Indy Hula, McGovern Irish Dancers, Purdue Chinese Performing Arts Troupe, The Snyders, and Afroroyale, plus cultural stories, workshops and family activities by the National Center for Great Lakes Native American Culture, Purdue Black Cultural Center and more. 

The following headliners will perform starting at 6 p.m.:

Kardemimmit, 6 p.m. — Kardemimmit is an all-woman band that focuses on the Finnish national instrument, the kantele. Alongside 15- and 38-string kanteles, singing is at the core of Kardemimmit’s musical universe — where original pieces with a modern approach still have a strong foundation in Finnish, Eastern European and Scandinavian traditions.

Frontera Bugalú, 7:30 p.m. — Frontera Bugalú is a musical project founded by accordionist and composer Kiko Rodriguez in El Paso, Texas, in 2011. The band made its name by performing an energetic fusion of border folk and cumbia music.

The Garifuna Collective, 9 p.m. — The Garifuna Collective continues to push the boundaries of its dynamic, centuries-old musical traditions, breaking new ground with performances that show why Unesco has proclaimed the language, dance and music of the Garifuna people of Central America as a “masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.”
 
For more information visit convocations.org/globalfest. 

Media contact: Abby Eddy, Purdue Convocations director of marketing, 765-494-5045, abbyeddy@purdue.edu

Note to journalists: Photos available at www.convocations.org/press.