Thousands are expected to gather at Reston Town Center this weekend for the Reston Multicultural Festival, which will celebrate its 25th year of making connections across cultures.
The event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow (Sept. 19), will include dancing and music at three stages, artisan vendors, and community organizations. Pop-up performances are also planned throughout the day.
The opening ceremony will kick off at 11 a.m., as the South Lakes High School chorus performs the national anthem. Reston Community Center Board of Governors Chair Bill Bouie will give opening remarks, and Beverly Cosham will sing “God Bless America.”
Guests expected to be in attendance at the ceremony include state Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-38), Del. Karen Keys-Gamarra (D-7), Fairfax County Supervisor Walter Alcorn (Hunter Mill District), School Board Representative Melanie Meren (Hunter Mill), County Executive Bryan Hill and Reston Town Center Association Executive Director Robert Goudie.
According to the Reston Community Center (RCC), which organizes the annual event, more than 20 performances will take place across the three stages: the Pavilion Stage, Park Stage at Reston Town Square Park and Cultural Conversations Stage on Library Street.
Highlights include “Music from the Crooked Road,” featuring sounds rooted in Virginia, performed by Elsa Howell, Gina Dilg and the Mustard Cutters, and Eddie Bond & the New Ballards Branch Bogtrotters.
“Other featured artists, including the New York Korean Performing Arts Center, Billy McComiskey, Patrick Olwell, Gerry Milnes and CULTURE featuring Kenyatta Hill, reflect a broader American story shaped by traditions carried across generations and from cultures around the world,” RCC said in a press release.
Along Market Street, performances include Lion Dancers, the Foley Academy of Irish Dance, Abadã-Capoeira DC, which emphasizes a Brazilian performance art, and the Taratibu Youth Association, which is focused on the African diaspora.
More than 60 vendors and civic organizations are expected to be in attendance, with market items ranging from Turkish rugs to Egyptian jewelry and Ukrainian crafts.
The event is presented by Reston Community Center and co-hosted at Reston Town Center by property owner BXP, in partnership with Reston Town Center Association. Reston Association provides volunteer coordination.
In August, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors honored the festival’s 25th anniversary with a proclamation submitted through a motion by Alcorn with Chairman Jeff McKay.
“This annual event honors Reston’s founding principles that embrace arts, culture and inclusivity as cornerstones for the community,” the proclamation states. “The festival builds a strong sense of belonging and pride across the rich diversity of cultures and generations that call Reston home.”
The festival started after residents Ellen Graves and Margaret Boyd approached then-Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins with the idea. She encouraged them to work with the Reston Community Center to create the event.
“Twenty-five years is a wonderful milestone, and to me, it’s not just about 25 festivals, but it’s the idea, it’s the community, and the people who believed in the power of bringing people together,” BeBe Nguyen, the Reston Community Center’s executive director, said when accepting the board’s proclamation on the center’s behalf.
“As someone who came to this country as a refugee, this means something very personal to me,” Nguyen added. “I know what it means to leave one home and to be welcomed into another. I know the power of belonging and I believe deeply that community is not something we simply inherit; it is something we choose to nurture and build together.”
