Annual Cultural Festival Aims to Foster Understanding in Bloomington

Reposted from The Pantagraph

Story and Photos By Olivia Jacobs

BLOOMINGTON — Local performers, vendors and community members gathered on Saturday (Aug. 23, 2025) to celebrate the 46th annual Cultural Fest at Miller Park in Bloomington.

Lee Brewer, a co-founder of the event, helped start the festival in 1979. He is originally from St. Louis but came to the Bloomington-Normal area to attend Illinois State University, and it was a nice town, so he stuck around, he said.

The event originally was hosted in downtown Bloomington but has been held at Miller Park for the last several years.

“We wanted somewhere to bring the cultures together; by bringing them together, you begin to understand each other … you can see all the talent and all that you know,” Brewer said of the festival’s origins.

Brewer said he was looking forward to seeing all of the performances on Saturday to help understand the different cultures.

Performers included the Mt. Pisgah Sun Beam Choir, Dance by Gen 3 Cultural Academy, Swaranjali, MOVZZ dance school, Polynesian Dance (Kamokunani Hula Halau), Tenth Muse Dance, Creative Writing People, Galaxy Diamonds (dance), Zejae Baebe, Loraine’s Line Dance, Salsa Dance demo, USA Ballet Youth Dance Ensemble, Urban Dance Showcase, Tatiana and V8 Vast Change. Line dance lessons were also given in the Miller Park Pavilion.

The event, sponsored by the City of Bloomington, Bloomington Human Relations Commission and the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation, also featured nearly 50 vendors, multiple food trucks, and a kids zone.

Latrice Galloway, a third grade teacher at Stevenson Elementary School in Bloomington, attended the event for the first time on Saturday with her husband, Robert. Galloway said she found out about the event through Bloomington District 87.

“Honestly, we were just out on a motorcycle ride, and District 87 popped up on my phone with their announcements and said it’s Cultural Fest, so we said ‘Let’s go,’ and I’m a teacher in the district, so that’s why we came out,” Galloway said. “It’s wonderful. I love it, and it’s great for the community, and seeing my students out and the families.”

Tony Jones, one of the event organizers, said he was expecting around 2,000 attendees throughout day with the nice weather.

Joysuline Horton of Champaign was one of many vendor booths at Cultural Fest. She started her business, Suline Creations LLC, about three years ago, but just started selling products last year.

Horton said she started out making soaps with essential oils as a hobby, but has evolved into making other products, too, such as liquid soaps, lip balms, cuticle oils, pedicure kits, facial masks, lip scrubs, body butter, body and beard oil, and essential oils.

What’s unique about her face masks, she said, is that the ingredients come from the Caribbean, and contain natural roasted coffee, which has no preservatives and is fine, like a powder.

“So everything was in production, but I wanted to make sure, you know, it was sustainable, and before I put it out, I try every product … every single product I have on my table, I’ve tried them, so I know exactly what’s in it … just to stress that all these are made with pure essential oils, very good for the skin, very hydrating, and they will last you a while,” she explained.

Horton said she has done events in surrounding areas, but this was her first time at Cultural Fest and her first time doing an event in Bloomington.

“I love it, I didn’t expect to see all these vendors here, and you know, when I got here I (was like), ‘Oh my God, maybe I didn’t bring enough stuff,’ but it’s nice to connect with other vendors and to network, and it feels … familiar, like family … so it’s really nice to be here, and I’ll definitely probably be back next year,” she said.

Illinois Prairie Community Foundation awarded a Mirza/Arts & Culture Grant to Culture Fest to help fund this program. If you would like to support arts and culture programs like this, donate online.