2012 International Festival

A day, at the 36th annual Indianapolis International Festival, in photos!

Theme: Legends and Myths.

In China the dragon is considered good luck. With the sphere in its mouth, it is a symbol of prosperity and longevity.

Some very interesting, ornate flutes.

(origin: unknown)

In some Native American Nations, the dream catcher is said to catch all that is evil.

Beautiful origami ornaments (Japan).

Baby dolls (Peru).

My new tapestry (Ecuador).

A tea-cup set from Turkey with nazar (eye shaped amulet). The nazar is believed to protect from the evil eye. The nazar can be found in homes, cars, offices as well as on clothing, jewelry,  plates, cups, pots, beads, and also on the tail wing of a Turkish airliner. 

Trolls are associated with Norway.

Sculptures and carvings from Africa (specific regions and countries unknown).

Origami in a glass ornament (Okinawa).

An ornament constructed of plastic drinking straws (Lithuania).

A small decorative pot with nazar boncugu (evil eye bead) to repel evil forces (Turkey).

Heybe (hay-beh) - a large bag for carrying stuff (Turkey).

A colorful pillow case (Peru).

Oh No! Caught in Romania!

Decorative jewelry box made from straw (Lithuania).

The Swedish Christmas Goat is said to have passed out gifts long before Santa Clause.

I had lunch in Germany;) This is roast beef and some squirt cheese with Funyuns, and horseradish sauce on a pretzel bun. Not sure how German this really is, but it was pretty good!

My partner went to Greece for this gyro.

No idea where these came from but I thought they would make a fun photo!

Rice flour dough art (Taiwan). 

 The only thing more interesting than these colorful little rice dough figurines...

...was watching the artist create them at incredible speeds.

Peter Paul Rubens - The Death of Achilles (1630-1635). Just one of many outstanding, reproduction, chalk art displays.

Chipz refreshing Italian street art with more color. This is known as the art of the Madonnari (Mah- doan-are-ee). Madonnari was the term given to 16th century street painters who traveled the country gracing the streets with brilliant reproductions of religious art during holy festivals.

The International Festival was a wonderful educational experience. We really made an effort to visit every booth at the show, though I am sure we missed a few. As you can clearly see from the photos above, we enjoyed our day at the festival. My only complaint about the entire event was that the price was really salty for an average family. We paid $10 per adult entry plus $5 to park. Student price was $8 and children 2-12 was $6 making a single day visit to the show over $40 for a family of four. That of course does not include any beverages or foods, which are a large part of the cultural experience. Add lunch and your cost for the day could easily exceed $80 - $100. A bit much for the average family to afford and to my knowledge there were no discounts geared toward lower income families. We spent the entire Friday afternoon at the show from 3-8 pm and attendance was surprisingly low. We sampled a number of foods and beverages, played a game of bocce, tried our hand at Italian street art, observed part of the naturalization ceremony and bought several items from various vendors. 

I found the vendor prices to be much more reasonable than the admission fee. My question is, what more can be done to gain corporate sponsorship, reduce admission costs and encourage a more diverse demographic crowd? Truly the idea of spending money to get into (what is essentially) a controlled shopping venue to spend more money is a bit baffling. It seems that the vendors could stand to gain financially and the public to gain culturally, from a reduced or no fee entry ticket and higher foot traffic!