CultureFest opens eyes, ears to Chattanooga area's diversity

The Guanakitas wait to show a traditional dance of El Salvador during CultureFest at the Chattanooga Market on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015., in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The Guanakitas wait to show a traditional dance of El Salvador during CultureFest at the Chattanooga Market on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015., in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Young girls dancing to pop star Taylor Swift's music hardly seems like a celebration of Chattanooga's diversity.

But it was, on Sunday at First Tennessee Pavilion.

The song itself may have been mainstream, but a closer look at the dance floor revealed the purpose of the 16th annual CultureFest.

A group from the Filipino-American Association of Greater Chattanooga performed a tinikling dance in rhythm to Swift's "Shake it Off," generating a buzz among a delighted crowd that was treated with snippets of international cultures all day.

"I didn't know she was so diverse," joked festivalgoer Patricia Russell.

Swift is American, but tinikling is a traditional Philippine dance in which performers hop between bamboo poles controlled rhythmically by other performers.

The performance was one of many featured acts highlighting a sense-tingling event that got hundreds of Chattanoogans outside to cap a wet weekend.

Chattanooga State's International Outreach department sponsored the free festival in conjunction with the weekly Chattanooga Market at the pavilion.

"I thought it was a great event," Russell said. "We need more diversity and diverse events in our city, and I think this was a good opportunity to come out, mix and mingle and enjoy some culture."

Data from the 2010 U.S. Census showed that immigrants from 36 of 37 possible Asian or Spanish-speaking nations reside in the Chattanooga area.

Food and drink stands, craft salesmen and an array of international vendors lined the interior of the pavilion and spilled out into the welcome bits of sunshine that splashed either side of the structure.

A crowd, some seated and some standing around the stage, clapped along late in the afternoon as group after group played their culture's music, danced to it, or both.

"It was nice," said Chattanooga resident Lenka Hailstone, who is Peruvian. "America is made of many cultures. Not just one."

Hailstone added that events like the CultureFest are rare.

Zena Buckley would like to see more of them.

"For me, the event made me more aware of the different cultures in Chattanooga," Buckley said. "I don't think I even knew that this many cultures or nationalities were actually living in our city. Awesome event, and we need more like this."

Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.

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