| Show celebrate diversity at Living Traditions Festival Marissa Groce Local Arts Staff Writer Fest delighted senses via bands and crafts Presented by the Salt Lake City Arts Council the Living Traditions Festival provides traditional music food dance and crafts of Salt Lakes Lake's modern modem modern mod mod- ern em ethnic societies to the pub pub- lic Living Traditions is a celebration celebration celebration cel cel- in which people can come together through their cultures and develop a strong sense of self while learning about the traditions of many other groups of people In its twenty-first twenty year Living Traditions decided to tomake tomake tomake make some changes from the 2005 festival This year bands BeauSoleil and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band were invited invited invited ed to play the festival in recognition of the New Orleans hurricanes and all of the culture that was directly affected The Dirty Dozen Brass Band played on Saturday May 20 and it was a sight indeed The Dirty Dozen Brass Band has been around for an astounding 29 years They have released ten albums of their own and have performed all around the world Their performance on Saturday was one of the most popular events there Hundreds of people gathered to watch them jam and all of the seats surrounding surrounding surrounding surround surround- ing the stage were filled long before the band even came on The Dirty Dozen Brass Band came out with a positive atti- atti Fest con continued on page 6 f l n C Photo courtesy of Salt Lake City Arts Ans Council Bands and dancers showcase their talent at the local Festival Utah diversity celebrated by festival continued from front page tude tulle looking to have a good time They played their music every step with heart and soul while people of all ages danced everywhere There were men with long gray hair and toddlers on the backs of their fathers all coming together through the music In addition to the two bands from Louisiana Living Traditions had lots of new events The Living Traditions Kitchen Living Traditions Films at the main library and v vt i f demonstrators j 0 feW addi Walking through the festivals festival's festivals festival's festivals festival's festi festi- vals val's crowd you realize just how diverse Salt Lake City is Many people believe that Salt Salt Lake City isn't varied at all but Living Traditions proved this assumption to be wrong Aside from more than four dozen musical and dance groups with cultures ranging from Lebanese Irish and Hawaiian to Greek Korean Hopi and many more the festival festival festival fes fes- offered twenty ethnic food booths with food from Austria El Salvador Thailand Italy and a multitude multitude multitude multi multi- tude of other countries There were also two beer and wine gardens located near each of the main stages Along with music dance and food Traditions invited many m craftspeople to display their work Some of these crafts include Armenian needlework Chinese ink drawing and painting European Batik dyed eggs Hawaiian leis and crafts Japanese bonsai trees Mexican Day of the Dead fig fig- ures and Navajo basket weaving weaving weaving ing just to name a few There were five craft demonstrators' demonstrators tents and if you wished to purchase purchase purchase pur pur- chase some of the crafts there was a crafts market located nearby It was impossible for crowds not to be amazed at this festival There was so much to do see taste and smell Through various performances performances per per- and vendors people people people peo peo- could see just how diverse Salt Lake City really is i Living annu annual al 1 1 ly Iy held on the weekend before Memorial Day This years year's event spanned three days Friday through Sunday and took place on the grounds of the City and County Building in downtown Salt Lake City |
