International Festival of Minnesota revives tradition of multicultural celebration

Imagine walking through a festival and to your right, you smell sambusas from Somalia. And then to your left you hear the music of a Mexican Mariachi band. That is the multicultural experience you can have this weekend at the International Festival of Minnesota. If you grew up here or had kids here, you may remember attending its former namesake, the Festival of Nations. It ran nearly 90 years, and was the Midwest’s oldest and longest-running annual multicultural celebration. It drew 30,000 people to the RiverCentre when it was last held in 2019. Due to the pandemic and rising costs, the event came to an end. But now it is back and it kicks off Friday. Steve Heckler is the executive director of the International Festival of Minnesota and he joined MPR News host Emily Bright to talk about this weekend’s celebrations.