Montgomery County To Hold International Festival At Jesup Blair Park

Header--Montgomery County, Maryland. Press Releases

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Contact: Bill Ryder, 240-777-6823
For Immediate Release: June 7, 2000

Montgomery County
To Hold International Festival
At Jesup Blair Park

The sights, sounds, tastes and traditions of many cultures come together in Montgomery County at the First International Festival to be held at Jesup Blair Park, Georgia Avenue and Blair Road, in Silver Spring on June 25 (rain or shine), from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Formerly known as the Ethnic Heritage Festival, the event was previously held at Wheaton Regional Park and in downtown Silver Spring.

Produced by the Montgomery County Department of Recreation and the National Council for the Traditional Arts, the free festival will feature some of the area's finest musicians and performers, representing a variety of music and dance from around the world, in addition to food vendors, crafters and exhibitors.

More than 20 music and dance performances will be held on three stages. Performers include Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, The Legendary Orioles; international jazz great Keter Betts; Grupo Latino Continental's hot salsa and merengue dance music; Mukti, led by master tabla player Broto Roy, playing ragas from North and South India; Ugandan singer Namu Lwanga and her Pan-African band Impala; and local favorite Last Train Home.

Featured on the dance or "World Arts Stage" will be the talented young Irish American musicians of Camaera, featuring Irish step dancers; the music and dance of the local Balinese Gamelan group Gamelan Mitra Kusuma; the acrobatic dance/martial arts of Washington, DC based International Capoeira Angola Foundation; Kuchipudi dance master Nilemma Devi; Memory of African Culture, featuring Senagalese Griot and kora master Djimo Kouyate; India based Pushpanjali; the South Asian dance of the Ahimsa Youth Organization; and Hoaloha Hawaiian dance.

Entertainment at the family-oriented Global "Play"house consists of Cherokee storyteller Joseph Stands With Many; Dinorock Puppet Theatre; Caribbean stilt dancers Kombo Omolara; juggler Nicolo Whimsey; Barry Louis Polisar; and the humorous Michael Rosman. Children's activities include a 30-foot climbing wall, face painting, hands-on crafts and games.

An added attraction will be "The Taste of Silver Spring," which will be held also at Jesup Blair Park during the festival and will showcase a variety of cuisines from local restaurants.

Parking is available at the Silver Spring Metro Station and the Bonifant Street-Dixon Avenue garage, with free shuttle service starting at 10:30 a.m. Handicap parking will be available on King Street. (There is no on-site parking.)

For more information, call the International Festival Hotline at 240-777-6821 or access the Recreation Department website at www.co.mo.md.us/rec/int.html.

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