'I love seeing all the cultures': A night of community at Quincy's multicultural festival

QUINCY – "Flags!" Hector Camargo, 8, of Quincy, shouted when his family was asked what brought them to Quincy's first multicultural festival.

"Brazil, UK, Wales, Mexico, Philippines, Jamaica, Vietnam, and now, India," he readfrom his list.

Hector spent the night learning about the different cultures represented in the Quincy community with his mom, Amy, his dad, Hector, and sister, Alex, 13.

The festival, put together by the citywide PTO's equity, diversity and inclusion subcommittee, drew hundreds to Pageant Field on Thursday evening. There were food trucks, 19 tables, each representing a different country.

"I think this is such a great representation of what makes Quincy such an awesome place," assistant superintendent of Quincy schools, Erin Perkins, said. "After the couple years of the pandemic, to come together like this and celebrate our differences and learn from each other and build that welcoming community ... It's just very rewarding and hopeful."

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The evening was kicked off with speeches from Kevin Mulvey, Quincy Public Schools superintendent, and Shivpreet Singh, a member of the equity, diversity and inclusion subcommittee, and an organizer of the event, along with Quincy schools family liaisons. Performances included a lion dance, taekwondo demonstration, Bharatanatyam dance and Latin dance.

Yulia Houghton, of Quincy, provided information about Russian culture. On the table were flags, traditional shoes made out of birch bark and stacking, or matryoshka, dolls.

"I love seeing all the cultures coming together and all the smiling faces and children excited to visit the countries. It's been lovely," Houghton said.

Her mother-in-law, Rosemary Houghton, drove from Waterville, Maine, to attend the event and commended the school system for it's dedication.

"Oh my gosh, it's the way that we would like to see the world right now," said Rosemary Houghton.. "Kudos to the school system. They've been doing a terrific job ... They celebrate and embrace all the different cultures here."

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At a table representing Morocco, green tea with fresh mint leaves was served. Chinese culture was displayed with origami roses.Another table had fruits traditionally grown in Brazil. .

"I like to present my culture, I like to show up. This is my first time doing it and I'm so happy. I have had so many people come to ask about different cities, different food," said Souaad Wafik, at the Morocco table.

Attendees expressed gratitude for the diverse community and togetherness. Children ran from table to table with friends, collecting flag stickers from each country, and played badminton.

"We had a lot of support from schools, teachers, QPS, everybody supported us a lot," Singh said. "And we really pushed, so I was expecting it to be (this turnout), but I'm still emotional."

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Reach Alyssa Fell at afell@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: A night of community at Quincy's multicultural festival