MOSAIC - your community cultural festival

Saturday, June 3, 2006

The Mosaic Cultural Festival 2006 was a great success because of all the wonderful volunteers, sponsors, staff and of course the sun!

Saturday, June 3, 2006 was a beautiful day with plenty of warm sunshine and a slight breeze that kept festival attendees from overheating. It was Mosaic's biggest year yet with approximately 4000 people coming by Central Memorial Park to check out all the exciting things Mosaic offers.

The crowds enjoyed performances on two stages. The Garden Stage hosted several groups with the Calgary Folk Arts Council that showcased various ethnic music and dance groups. The Bartok Hungarian Dancers and The Calgary Italian Folk Dancers performed spectacular numbers that the Garden Stage audiences loved. The Main Stage saw more performances from the Calgary Folk Arts Council, a moving performance from Finenza Flamenca, upbeat dances from Polanie Polish Song and Dance Association, and a passionate collaboration from DanceCalgary.com and Orquesta Libertango.The Main Stage finished off with headliners IBO and KinDread who had the whole park dancing to their infectious reggae rhythms.

The exhibitors especially enjoyed the large crowds and great weather, from Greenpeace and Citytv to ethnic handicraft vendors and face painters. The Eau Claire Market store Tibetan Trom won the "Best Decorated Booth" award and The Nickle Arts Museum won "Most Educational Booth" award for its display that highlighted their upcoming exhibit "Ancient Peru Unearthed".

The food vendors that particpated in the festival were also pleased with the turnout. The Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant and China Rose booths were favourites among festival goers as they offered unique ethnic foods at special festival prices.

The Mosaic Committee is thankful to all the organizations, businesses and individuals that made this year's event such a success. The Calgary Catholic Immigration Society and the Calgary Immigrant Women's Association helped with planning and organizing the many volunteers. Societe de Theatre de Calgary made sure the Garden Stage ran smoothly and also provided volunteers for the event. The City of Calgary Community and Neighbourhood Services staff was on hand to paint faces and run children's activities.

New to Mosaic this year were the historical park tours conducted by The Calgary Heritage Initiative. Several people took this opportunity to learn more about Central Memorial Park and the memorials situated in the park. Central Memorial Park is a significant piece of Calgary's history, and a group of stakeholders in the Park, including the Victoria Crossing BRZ have published a Proposal for Redevelopment for the Park. The Mosaic Festival supports exactly the type of programming that this stakeholder group would like to see more of in Central Memorial Park, so by supporting Mosaic you are also supporting the restoration of beautiful Central Memorial Park to its original glory.

Next year's Mosaic Cultural Festival promises to yet again be bigger and better so mark your calenders for Saturday, June 2, 2007!

Contact us for more information:
Phone: 265-2880
Fax: 398-1510
Email: mosaic@vcrossing.com
Mail:
Mosaic Festival
c/o Victoria Crossing BRZ
310, 1202 Centre Street SE
Calgary, Alberta T2G 5A5