On Saturday, Sept. 16th, a celebration of the multiculturalism within Michigan Tech had people filling the sidewalks of Hancock and Houghton. At 11 a.m. a parade of community members, students and their families walked under flags of their ancestral or home countries with pride as part of the 28th annual Parade of Nations. The Parade of Nations began in Hancock on Quincy Street before heading across the bridge to end at the Dee Stadium, which had been repurposed to host a bustling food market. The market was a major draw to those left wanting more after the parade, promising to entice the senses.
When the parade ended, many of the watchers flocked to Dee Stadium for some delicious and varied ethnic food, enhanced by a display of dance and music from around the world. Along the inside walls of the iceless rink, small tables buckled under the mouthwatering meals sold by local restaurants and university groups. A hungry drove of people quickly set about to relieve these tables of their burden, devouring everything from Japanese egg buns to Middle Eastern falafels. Every stacked plate was polished as the crowds were delighted by the entertainment of many different cultures. There is no better time to be had than within a mirthful crowd, exploring a delectable African dish to the sights and sounds of Finnish-American folk dancing from a local dance school. The Dee Stadium food market certainly displayed the 2017 Parade of Nations theme of “think globally, celebrate locally,” although not everyone who participated in the parade calls Michigan Tech and the U.P. home.
One group of walkers in the parade were the Almendras family, who came to support their family friend’s freshman student Rosaline. They flocked to Houghton after Rosaline asked around her close friends and family for people willing to represent the pride of their ancestral country, the Philippines. It took them around ten hours to come up from downstate to take part in the parade. The family was ecstatic at how big the parade was, and seeing as it was their first Parade of Nations, they found it “very enlightening to see how much diversity that’s up here at Michigan Tech.” They will definitely be coming back up so long as the family is invited once more, and were quick to add that “[Michigan Tech] has to continue doing this, it’s awesome! If they could have this tradition continue on and on, I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to make people aware of the diversity at Michigan Tech.” There is no greater outcome for an event like Parade of Nations than to educate and celebrate the diversity between people.
While the sights, sounds, and tastes of Parade of Nations is a success in and of itself, but more importantly it is a success in educating the people of not only Michigan Tech but the U.P. and beyond, the greatness of diversity. The food and culture that differentiates people were used as a means to come together, become closer over the differences that would otherwise split the same people apart.
