21/09/2018
TOMORROW ~ Saturday, September 22nd
Be there!
On September 22nd The Gathering will sizzle downtown Waterbury with music, food and dance from around the world. The idea was simple; take elements from all the ethnic festivals in Waterbury and bring them together in one place and time to celebrate folkloric traditions from the city's extraordinarily diverse population.
The Gathering made it's debut in May 2013 with elements of 40 cultures participating either in a massive ethnic-themed parade, or sharing music, food or dance inside Library Park. Every year the festival has grown, and this year organizers have cultural representation from 100 countries. Some people will march in the parade, while others sell food, perform music or dance.
There is no admission fee to attend The Gathering, it is free and open to the world. Parking is also free in downtown Waterbury that day. All you have to pay for is your food and drink, and the difficult part will be deciding what to try; Indian, Brazilian, Greek, Ecuadorian, Puerto Rican, Lebanese, Dominican, Venezuelan, Colombian, Pakistani, Mexican, Kenyan , Jamaican, Albanian and African-American soul food.
Dances will be offered from Lithuania, Peru (Angie Vargas pictured here), Albania, Colombia, Tibet, Mexico, Brazil, Ghana, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Native American, India, the Dominican Republic, Cape Verde, Guyana and Ecuador.
There will Puerto Rican hip-hop, Italian opera, Jamaican reggae, Tibetan folk songs, an African-American church choir, Scottish bag pipes, the Berkley Knights marching band, and drums from Cape Verde, West Africa and Puerto Rico.
The parade starts at the corner of North Elm Street and East Main Street at 11 am. Music food and dance will erupt inside Library Park at noon and continue until 7 pm. The rain date is the following day, September 23rd, same time and place.
Organizers are still recruiting food vendors from Asia, Africa and Europe, and any organization that wishes to march in the parade can still sign up by contacting [email protected].
It's almost showtime, and a little idea to try and bring Waterbury together has evolved into what is now being described as the most culturally diverse festival in New England.
"We all came from somewhere, now it's time to come together."
