More than 20 countries represented at Folk Fair

International students help visitors learn more about other cultures

Chen Chen

Issue date: 11/5/07 Section: Campus News

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Sunnie Wu serves traditional Chinese cuisine at the International Folk Fair Sunday in the Davies Center.

Once a year, the UW-Eau Claire Davies Center is crowded with musicians playing Scandinavian music, students showing off their traditional Hmong dresses, a long line of people waiting to eat Vietnamese food and children learning to write their names in Chinese.

This is the International Folk Fair. On Sunday afternoon, 35 student organizations representing more than 20 countries brought part of their cultures to Davies. Eau Claire families and people from different communities, organizations and schools attended the event. Visitors received mock passports and stamps from each "country" they visited.

The Center of International Education has been planning the event since July.

"We put on a fair like this to help the community experience something different," international student adviser Bryan Stempka said. "Even if they cannot afford to leave Eau Claire to go to see other countries, at least they can experience the fair to get a little taste of what the culture is like."

Stempka added that the fair gives international students the opportunity to share their cultures with other people.

UW-Eau Claire has hosted the International Folk Fair for more than 30 years.

"We've been coming here probably 10 to 15 years," said Kari Roshell, an Eau Claire resident. "My kids love it, they can learn different cultures."

UW-Eau Claire's international students said they put a lot of preparation into the Folk Fair.

"We have already prepared this since four weeks ago," said sophomore Seng Vang, a member of the Hmong Student Association. "We want it to be unforgettable, so we worked really hard."

This year's folk fair shined the spotlight on new locations.

"The new thing for this time is that we have country's profile for all the Africa countries," said junior Samson Gimui, president of the African Student Association.

Traditional students were involved as well.

Senior Kristin Bender said living in a global world, people deal with different cultures all the time.

"I think it's very important to learn more about their culture instead of just assuming we know," Bender said after tasting Korean and Scandinavian food. "We should be culturally sensitive."

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