To salute the town’s centennial year, the Rainy Lake Multicultural Association is pulling out all the stops to stage the most jam-packed “Culturama” in years on Saturday, June 28.
“Last year, we had the entertainment in two sets—one in the afternoon, one in the evening,” noted Bev Kotnik of the RLMA.
“This year, we’re only having each act perform once so we can have non-stop entertainment for those who have come back to Fort Frances for ‘Homecoming Week,’” she added.
“We’re really hoping the attendance will be great. With the horrible storms last year, we had terrible attendance,” Kotnik remarked. “We want this year to be much better.”
Thanks to a grant from the Trillium Fund, the RLMA has brought in more than $15,000 worth of entertainment to the Memorial Sports Centre, including the Fort Frances Highlanders, Fort Dance Studio, a Caribbean band, an Eastern European band, Irish dancers, Japanese drummers, a Chilean band, Métis square dancers and jiggers, an African musician, a Serbian folk ensemble, Portuguese dancers, German dancers, and Chinese “lion dancers.”
Some of these performers, such as the Chinese “lion dancers,” have been here before while other acts are new to the event.
Medieval jester “Squire Lawrie” also will be around throughout the day to keep kids spellbound with his magic tricks.
And what would “Culturama” be without food from around the world?
“We’re going to have a whole bunch of different kinds for people to try,” said Kotnik.
Some of the fare will include perogies, cabbage rolls, Swedish meatballs, bigos (sausage and sauerkraut), tortiéres (meat pies), a Chinese smorgasbord, cheesecake, and “Indian tacos” (tacos on fried bread).
Refreshments also will be for sale.
The event will run from noon until 10 p.m. Admission is a “centennio” (or $3 coin issued by the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce).
“We’ll accept three dollars in other currency, of course,” chuckled Kotnik. “But we wanted to promote the centennial coin.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
