BengalNews Reporters
If there is one thing that’s not hard to find in Buffalo, it’s diversity. Buffalo’s annual Taste of Diversity festival displays just that and more. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., June 2 on Lafayette Street.
This annual event brings people in Buffalo together no matter what race, gender, or cultural background one may be.
The program coordinator of the event, Kelly Lang, says there are many ways this year will differ from last. You can count on a longer festival, as it will go from 4 hours to 8 hours. You will also find a much bigger event that will even feature the Buffalo food trucks. This year the festival also will be expanding the variety of food it has. Last year there was everything from Native American food, to Peruvian and Vietnamese and even a chef from the Cordon Blue in Paris.
“This year we have almost all the vendors we had last year and more and we’re still looking,” Lang says.
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| Mary Jo Buscemi of the West Side Bazaar prepares for Taste of Diversity |
As she prepares for this year’s event, she is trying to bring in new vendors to attract more people. She also hopes that students will participate and bring something new to the festival.
The mission of Taste of Diversity is to enhance the quality of life by revitalizing the area, helping small businesses and bringing awareness to the different cultures and people in the Buffalo community. While the festival is still being organized by some of the same people from almost a decade ago, it also has other volunteers and organizations that are new to the city with different ideas to offer.
With the number of businesses growing on the West Side, there is definitely a new energy taking over Grant Street. The West Side Bazaar just opened its doors this past July and has a lot to offer Taste of Diversity this year. This unique shop is located on Grant Street, and it serves as a place for refugees from all over to come together and sell their goods straight from their country.
You’ll be sure to find hand-crafted jewelry, clothing, scarves and home goods.
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| Handcrafted items will be sold at the Taste of Diversity |
“We are really excited to take part in Taste of Diversity, because it shows our diversity with the goods that we carry from Indonesia, South Sudan, Peru, from the Ivory Coast and from all over, shared with the neighborhood. It just gives a really nice cultural aspect,” says Mary Joy Buscemi, the marketing coordinator of the West Side Bazaar.
Westside Stories is another local business that will be participating in this year’s Taste of Diversity festival. The book store participated in the event last year and officially opened this past July, selling books at affordable prices and hosting in store events
“We want to see it grow,” says Joe Petri, owner of West Side Stories. “We think the West Side is unique, it’s the great melting pot of Buffalo, and it is one of the few areas where we are seeing people from all over the world, whether it be refugees or friends moving back from New York City. It’s growing and it’s having a rebirth, and I feel the festival is kind of like the cornerstone of this area’s outreach to the greater Western New York area.”
Petri and his wife also serve as staff workers for Taste of Diversity. He says that while it did rain during last year’s event, there was still so much excitement creating a great atmosphere. He hopes the event this year mirrors that excitement and that the weather will be nicer for the event.
Taste of Diversity, which began in 2003 at Our Lady of Loretto church, has come a long way. The festival eventually had thousands of attendees and was moved onto Lafayette Street last summer. In the next few years the committee hopes to extend the festival into a two-day event and to be able to host the festival on Grant Street. Taste of Diversity celebrates the diversity and culture of all the people who now call Buffalo home. It is about sharing heritages, food, stories and coming together as a community. Edited by Katie Anderson
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