Harrisonburg International Festival puts the world on display | Arts And Entertainment

Valley residents were able to sample the world Saturday without leaving Rockingham County.

Around 10,000 people attended the Harrisonburg International Festival on Saturday in Court Square, where they could listen to a Ukrainian singer, watch Filipino dancers, or eat a chivito sandwich from Uruguay. They could shop for items from Peru, Pakistan, Mexico and elsewhere in the international market. Or visit the information booths about Egypt and Harrisonburg’s Kurdish minority.

Alex Lagoda of Harrisonburg performed at the festival, playing the bandura this year, as he had done in years past. The bandura is a highly asymmetrical, guitar-like instrument that has long been part of Ukrainian music.

Speaking as he performed, Lagoda said the Soviets put many bandurists to death in the 1930s because they sang of Ukrainian heroes, like the ones he was singing at the festival.

He sang humorous songs, too, and ended his performance by recreating the sound of wind blowing through a field of wheat — with a glissando over the strings.  

Lagoda was invited to play at the festival years ago at the invitation of Vaunda Brown, one of the founding members of the festival.

“I remember the first time Alex called me, saying, ‘Hey, I’m moving to the community, and I play the bandura.’ And I was, like, great. I want you to perform; I want people to learn about this.’” 

Brown said she got involved in the festival about 25 years ago. As she recalled, the event started on a much smaller scale — a potluck dinner.

“When we started having immigrants in our community, the hospital did a survey to find out what the community needs and wants. Many responded that they wanted to learn about our new community members, mainly Cubans. And starting to get some of the Kurdish people in,” she said.

After the potluck, people brainstormed on what to do next. One man came up with the idea of a flea market.

“And everyone at the table said, ‘Oh, no! A festival!’ And that’s how it started,” Brown said.

She helped by coordinating food vendors. The following year, she worked another function.

“By the third year, I was the chairperson, and that lasted 17 years,” she said.

She has long since stepped down, but she has watched it grow and change. She was glad when the event moved from Hillandale Park to downtown in 2018.

“I think it really symbolizes our community when it’s here, in the middle of town. It reminds our community that we are a friendly community of immigrants and longtime residents that have welcomed them and made their lives, and our lives, better,” she said.

Brown said The festival proves that the community is better by having people who are proud of who they are.

The International Festival can bring in as many as 10,000 people throughout the day. That’s a bit hard to measure because people come and stay for a few hours, and then a new group comes as other people leave.

One year, it rained all day — and 2,000 people came anyway.

“And I’d stop and say, ‘Why are you here?’ And they’d be like, ‘We’ve never missed one.’ That means something. It means they don’t want to miss this,” Brown said.

One side benefit of the festival is that it encourages nationalities to gather and celebrate their culture.

“They meet and celebrate their culture and their heritage and their holidays. And then, they start forming performing groups. They start performing. The Filipinos have a band now, and they used to just do dancers. So it just really brings those communities together and helps them figure out, ‘Hey, what can we do to show off who we are?’” Brown said.

Brown learned a lot about Kurdish culture by planning the events. She always enjoys participating

“You look up, and you see something so beautiful that it reminds you how great this is and makes you come back,” she said.