The Reston Multicultural Festival is set to return this weekend with expanded offerings.
Presented by Reston Community Center, Boston Properties (BXP), and the Reston Town Center Association (RTCA), the annual community event will bring three performance stages this year to Reston Town Center on Saturday (Sept. 21).
“Our diversity is our greatest strength,” RCC Board of Governors Chair Beverly Cosham said. “We present the Reston Multicultural Festival each year to share the incredible sights, sounds and joyful energy of people who come from all over the world to be here. Bob Simon established Reston as a place where everyone could feel a sense of belonging.”
Robert Goudie, RTCA’s executive director, said the expanded festival was made possible by BXP, which allowed the festival to expand its footprint up from Market Street to the pavilion.
There will be more than 20 performances throughout the day at Park Stage, Library Street and the pavilion, showcasing everything from Bolivian dance and traditional Korean drumming to Texas country rock and West African storytelling.
“With an expanded festival entertainment lineup and more participating artisans, there will be beauty everywhere people turn,” Goudie wrote in a statement.
Scheduled for 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the festival will also have a market with more than 30 artisan vendors displaying and selling items from around the world.
In a new addition for this year, LOOK Dine-in Cinema on Market Street will screen the documentary “In Good Keeping: the 2023-2024 Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program,” which features folk artists from the Mid-Atlantic region. The 65-minute screening will begin at 3 p.m.
This year’s festival also continues a partnership with the National Endowment of Arts (NEA) fellows and the National Council of Traditional Arts (NCTA). Their performers are Zuni Olla Maidens, a dance troupe from Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico; Rosie Flores, a singer and songwriter from Texas; and Sochietah Ung, a Cambodian costume and crown maker from D.C.
Participants are encouraged to dress in attire reflecting their culture. The full entertainment schedule and list of vendors can be found on the RCC website.
