An estimated 200 people attended the USD 475 sponsored Multicultural Fair Saturday in Heritage Park in downtown Junction City. They had to brave some gusty winds.

Coordinator Susan Pender said the day began well with a lot of people in attendance and a festive environment. “Lots of people coming out to showcase their cultures, and overall we were really pleased with the day.”

Then the wind arrived. It caused some problems.  Pender said, “It kind of increased as the afternoon went on.” The event had been scheduled to run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. but because of the wind gusts had to be shut down at one o’clock.

Pender enjoyed the overall event. ” I liked seeing the different cultures that we have here in Junction City represented. We had people coming up on stage and reading books in their native language. Now it was hard to hear because the wind was fighting our sound system. We had people dancing, we had yoga, we had kids out here having fun. ”

One of the activities involved a large peace sign drawn in chalk on the concrete walkway in the center of the park. Pender said it’s called Chalk for Peace. “You draw a big peace sign on the pavement and then the children or adults within the peace sign. Anything that reminds them of peace or of their culture and so that’s what we had kids do today.” A photo of the drawing will be sent in to the organization in the hopes that it will be posted and provide some publicity for Junction City.

Pender said they hope to make this an annual event but they’re considering changing their time of year, so it may be held in the winter months, and it needs to be indoors so the weather does not have such an impact.