A series of cultural events are happening in Morden leading up to the Feb. 14 Winterfest celebration.
The Morden Multicultural Discovery Month initiative with the sponsorship of Regional Connections, the City of Morden, and Morden Activity Centre as well as federal and provincial funding is featuring a number of family-friendly community activities open to everyone.
Katya Shagaliyeva, who works with Regional Connections Immigrant Services, said the aim is simply to foster community connections through cultural experiences.
“We realized that we are hosting multiple events throughout the winter, and most of them are to celebrate the cultural diversity of the community,” she said. “We also work with the City of Morden on Winterfest, and we decided it would be a great idea to combine all those events into one celebration, so this is how we ended up with this idea.”
Shagaliyeva said they have done some similar kinds of events and celebrations at various times in the past, but they thought to make a more concerted effort to co-ordinate and promote this as a special event for the region.
“We wanted to include Canadian culture as well, so that is why we added something like ice fishing,” she added, referring to last weekend’s outing at Lake Minnewasta.
Morden is blessed to have so many cultures in the community that can be represented, Shagaliyeva suggested.
“It’s always great to see so many cultures and how they can be represented in one small community. We have so many people from all over the world, and so many of them are proud to share their experience with the community.
“It’s also just a great opportunity for the community to learn about different cuisines and different arts,” she said, adding it will perhaps help build up interest for Winterfest.
In addition to ice fishing, last Saturday also saw the latest Connecting Culture Through Stories event held in the evening featuring stories from refugees who have found a new home in our area (see photos on Pg. 4).
The schedule continues this Saturday, Jan. 31, with a family arts and culture day, which will be a come-and-go event where participants can get a chance to learn about different forms of art throughout the world. It takes place from 3-6 p.m. at the Morden Activity Centre. Countries that could be represented include Morocco, India, Nigeria, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Canada.
Next up then is a special newcomer evening Feb. 4 from 6:30-9 p.m. at the 500 Stephen Community Centre followed by Feb. 6 from 6-8 p.m. at the Morden Activity Centre with what is being dubbed a “Happy Holiday Bash” honouring various cultural holidays.
The month will continue with a Discovery Through Diversity Family Fun Fest featuring cultural games and dance lessons Feb. 7 from 1-4 p.m. at Maple Leaf School and then Flavours Around the World Feb. 9 from 5-7 p.m. at the Morden Activity Centre highlighting global cusines.
The month of activities will then conclude Feb. 14 with Winterfest, which features cultural pavilions all around town (see next story).
