Collegiate Times

Over 12,000 people enjoyed the food, culture and festivities of the International Street Fair on Sunday afternoon at College Avenue and Draper Road to kick off Virginia Tech's 47th annual international week.

A total of 38 different groups under the Council of International Student Organizations represented different cultures by showcasing cultural crafts, dances, food and information to the public in the five-hour event. There were also performances given by many cultural organizations, such as the Latin Dance Club, in the middle of the fair.

The fair was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was rescheduled for Sunday due to bad weather.

?When the weather (forced postponement), we didn't expect a huge turnout,? said Bhavik Shah, a senior business information technology major and the CISO president. ?We were really impressed with the amount of people that came.?

Four years ago, the fair drew a crowd of 5,000 to 6,000 people. In Shah's estimation, approximately 10,000 to 11,000 people took part in this year's festivities.

The weather did not drastically affect the fair. There were a few performances that were cancelled, but everything else remained intact, Shah said.

?We were pretty surprised at how successful we have been today, since the original date for the fair was cancelled,? said Zohal Hamidi, senior human nutrition, foods and exercise major and an Afghan Students Association member.

Many groups thought the fair was an opportunity to change people's perceptions about their culture.

?We really think that Afghans have a bad perception nowadays in the media,? Hamidi said. ?We wanted to educate the public from our perspective of being Afghan and living in the United States, especially in a small southern town in Virginia.?

Other groups saw the fair as an opportunity to get their name out to the public and raise money for their organization by selling ethnic foods and crafts.

?International Street Fair is one of our major events of the year,? said Michelle Dong, a sophomore industrial and systems engineering major and Alpha Kappa Delta Phi member. ?It's our main revenue source and we participate every year.?

Some groups had difficulty adjusting with the weather delay.

?We had some technical difficulties with the food because of the delay,? said Marc Zarrugh, junior business information technology major and vice president of the Japanese Club. ?We were supposed to have some chicken teriyaki, but there's none at all because of the postponement.?

Many people waited in long lines to get a taste of a variety of different ethnic foods. It took the Chinese-American Society of Virginia Tech from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to prepare 1,000 dumplings for the festival, said Michael Kierce, a sophomore university studies major and CAS member.

There were no restrictions on which groups could participate in the fair. Entering a group into the fair required each group to fill out a form at the end of fall semester. Then they were required to go to health department training sessions, where group members learned about preparing food for the fair, Shah said.

Each group was required to submit its menus ahead of time to be approved by the health department. No changes to the menus were allowed afterward. Shah said there have never been any health-related issues with the food at the International Street Fair.

Students thought that this was a great way to celebrate diversity at Tech.

?It almost felt like I was outside of Blacksburg for a few hours,? said Andrea Mendes, sophomore international studies major. ?It was a very enriching experience to visit all the different organization booths. The food was also incredible.?

Shah hopes that the fair is a step to further incorporate diversity into the community.

?It's not going to change over night,? Shah said. ?It's a slow process, but eventually people will become more and more accepting of other cultures.?

The participants were encouraged by the recent trend of growth in international week attendance and participation.

?It's my personal goal to educate everyone possible about international issues and culture,? Shah said. ?This fair isn't just for Americans to learn about different cultures, but for teaching everyone in the community to know each others cultures. It's extremely important to learn about these different cultures with the amount of globalization going on.?