Westcott Street Cultural Fair celebrates diversity and the arts
Westcott Street Cultural Fair celebrates diversity and the arts
Standing outside the Westcott Community Center wearing a yellow cultural fair T-shirt and wielding a bullhorn, Kelly Maher directed parade participants to line up and let each group know when it was their turn to progress down the street.
Today at noon, the 27th annual Westcott Street Cultural Fair kicked off with a lively parade consisting of people from Refugee and Immigrant Self-Empowerment (RISE) Syracuse, First Unitarian Universalist, Open Hand Theatre, the Unity Street Band and anyone else who wanted to participate.
There were people dressed like the knights of fairy tales, battling with their swords in the streets of Syracuse, some dressed in bright colors and playing happy tunes on a variety of instruments like kazoos, as well as a young boy who towered over the crowd on stilts taller than he was. Even Senate hopeful Rachel May was somewhere in the crowd.
“There is never a specific theme for the parade, it’s all about celebrating the cultural diversity of the neighborhood,” she said. “Everyone is welcome.”
The Westcott Street Cultural fair is a one-day celebration of diversity that combines arts and crafts, live performances, food and complimentary items for fair goers.
The fair featured six different stages for performances and rows upon rows of booths with those selling their creations or handing out information about their businesses or organizations.
Artists, crafters and nonprofits had their booths set up all around–over 100 in total.
Though they didn’t have actual booths, many restaurants in the Westcott neighborhood offered a variety of food from gyros to corn on a stick.
“This is awesome,” said fair goer Jo Allen. “I didn’t quite know what to expect, but it definitely wasn’t this. I even got a free toy for my cat, Pekoe.”
The streets around the fair were blocked off to ensure the safety of those attending the fair, but reopened at 7:30 pm after the festivities had ended.
is a contributor to The NewsHouse.
