What do a food truck offering Middle Eastern food and Taiko drummers have in common? They will both be in attendance at the Village Early Learning Center’s free Multi-Culture Fair on Saturday, April 7.

The community is invited to join pre-school students and their families as they learn about the cultures of 40 different countries from Poland and Columbia to Ecuador and Egypt at the event.
The Multi-Culture Fair is sponsored by The Village Family Foundation, a non-profit organization, and the Parent Advisory Committee of the preschool.

“Raising awareness of the world around us and its different cultures is the goal of the school’s international week,” said Marlena Beamer, International Festival Chairman. “The Village Early
Learning Center celebrates our diversity here.”

According to Beamer, classrooms at the school will be decorated to represent a particular country the week before the event and the students will explore the customs, stories, food, flags and geography of various countries in preparation for the festival.

“The students picked these countries because they have family members that live in these regions,” said Beamer, who explained that each class creates an information board containing facts and photos about their chosen country. These boards will be on display at the event.

Community members who attend the event will be given a passport that will enable them to travel from country to country within the preschool, hearing stories and making crafts, in addition to seeing items from the countries the students have studied all week.

In addition, the festival will include dancing, music, displays of native costumes from all over the world and ethnic foods as well as a food truck offering Middle Eastern food and a Kona Ice truck.

International community members, organizations or groups would are interested in participating in the event can call the school at 651-0779.

Visit www.villageelc.com. The school is located at 3741 Canoga Park Dr. in Brandon and the event will take place from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

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Kate Quesada
Assignment Editor Kate Quesada started working at the Osprey Observer in 2004 after graduating from the University of South Florida with a masters degree in Mass Communications. Since then, she has held various positions at the paper and has been working as the assignment editor since January 2020. She lives in Lithia with her husband Mike and sons Dylan and Max and stays active in the community on school PTA boards and volunteering with local organizations.