Aurora’s second-annual GlobalFest, a celebration for the city’s increasingly diverse demographics, is set to showcase the city’s colorful and constantly changing self-portrait on Aug. 22.
From injera to Indian Bollywood dance troupes, the festival on the Great Lawn of Aurora Municipal Center is slated to host a bevy of culinary and entertainment offerings, including 20 live performances that feature cultures from around the globe.
“During the opening ceremony at last year’s Global Fest … I invited attendees to join me in 2015 for the second Aurora Global Fest because I foresaw the first year was going to be a success,” Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan said in a statement. “Now in our second year, I am happy to see that we are establishing a wonderful tradition for our Aurora community of celebrating the many cultures and traditions that make this event truly a unique festival.”
Hogan, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman and Mexico’s Consul General in Colorado Carlos Bello will give remarks to start the festival.
Global Fest is the product of discussions held by the city’s International Roundtable, a multicultural committee intended to foster international relations that was established by City Council in 2012.
“We are really happy that Aurora, as diverse as it is, is very inclusive,” said Lady Jane-Frances Echeozo, a founding member of the International Roundtable and president of the National Council of Women’s Societies. “There is no other place in Colorado where things are happening like they are in Aurora. We’re very excited about it.”
Entertainment offerings aren’t drastically different from those seen and heard last year, though organizers have added an expanded fashion show set to exhibit models and styles from more than 50 countries.
No outside alcohol will be allowed inside the festival area, though five different Colorado breweries will be onsite. Each of the five available draughts were internationally inspired, including a French Grissett Saision from Coda Brewing Company and a light, 15 IBU Asian Lager called Lao Wang, compliments of Caution Brewing Company.
Although attaching exact metrics to what creates the most-diverse anything can be thorny, recent census numbers paint an impressively varied picture of Aurora’s make-up. About 70,000 Aurora residents were born in another country, according to city-data.com. When compared to the greater city population, that’s about 10 percent higher than the Colorado average.