Homecoming kickoff

The University of Iowa will host the 23rd annual Celebrating Cultural Diversity Festival (CCDF) from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, in Hubbard Park in Iowa City, the first time that the festival has been held in the fall.

This year, the festival has been designated as the official kickoff to the 2013 UI Homecoming Week with the theme “Countless Hawkeyes: One Spirit.”

Festival admission is free, and tickets can be purchased for food, refreshments, arts, and crafts. UI Student Government and the UI Executive Council of Graduate and Professional Students (ECGPS) will be providing free tickets for the first 300 students who attend.

Since 1990, the festival has given members of the UI and its surrounding communities an opportunity to learn about each other through food, games, dance, music, literature, storytelling, arts, and crafts. Annual attendance is between 3,000 and 5,000 people, making the CCDF the second largest single-day nonathletic event sponsored by the UI.

Hancher is also collaborating with the festival to provide the headline performance, Martha Redbone Roots Project, blending the words of poet William Blake with the music of Appalachia. She will perform from 2 to 2:30 p.m. in Hubbard Park.

To view the festival schedule, visit here.

Supported by hundreds of performers, vendors, and volunteers from the campus and local community, the festival consistently and successfully creates meaningful cross-cultural interactions and deeper appreciation and understanding, says UI Chief Diversity Officer Georgina Dodge.

She adds that it’s an exciting twist to a long-standing and popular tradition to have the festival be part of Homecoming Week activities.

“We are very excited that we can bring together these important and much loved traditions in our community,” says Dodge. “In addition to drawing our core supporters, we also hope the timing will expand our audience to include more current UI students, especially new students, and alumni who might be back in town.”

Event sponsors are the UI Chief Diversity Office, the UI Division of Student Life, and the UI Center for Student Involvement and Leadership.

The alternate location for the festival in case of rain is the UI Field House. Updates in regard to weather and location will be posted on the festival website.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, contact the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership in advance at 319-335-3059.

Read a related story, UI’s 2013 Celebrating Cultural Diversity Festival moves to fall.