Multicultural Children's Festival in Cupertino

One of the highlights of Silicon Valley is its diverse and multicultural population, which is almost harmoniously intertwined in all areas of life. In an area slightly smaller than Lviv (121 square kilometers), more than 3 million people from different parts of the world live.

One of the areas of cultural cooperation is various ethnic events. Ukrainians in Northern California actively participate in such events in order to promote Ukrainian culture and national interests.

On August 14, 2021, Ukrainians participated in the international children's festival Kids Fun Festival in Cupertino, CA. As one of the largest children's festivals in Silicon Valley, Kids Fun Festival brings together more than 30,000 community members from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. This annual celebration is dedicated to children of all ages and ethnic backgrounds and includes fun games, exhibitions, and international delicacies.

Iryna Kulchytska and her family (Mykola Zelenyak and daughters Gabriella and Isabella) and Yevhen Yankovsky responded to Oleg Kernytsky’s call on Facebook for help in representing Ukraine at the festival. In just a few days, they prepared a magical tent with elements of Ukraine’s ethnic and cultural heritage, traditional clothing, and folk music.

As if in a passionate dance, the volunteers skillfully intertwined and shared responsibilities, encouraging hundreds of visitors to learn more about Ukraine. Watching their lively work, it seemed that these people had been working together for decades, but in fact they had met for the first time at the tent.

Yevhen Yankovsky and Oleg Kernytsky lively introduced people to the geographical location of Ukraine, elements of history, and its outstanding places. Since a large number of visitors were from Taiwan, they skillfully explained the specifics of historical relations between Russia and Ukraine, drawing parallels with the example of China and Taiwan. Each of them also took care of colorful costume exhibits, souvenirs, postcards and various accessories.

Iryna Kulchytska and her family energetically encouraged guests and their children to make pre-prepared children's toys from paper. Blue and yellow paper fans were especially popular, fluttering brightly throughout the park, performing a dual function: saving guests from the August heat and promoting Ukrainian symbols. The real highlight of the tent was the photo zone they made themselves in the form of an old Ukrainian hut under a thatched roof, wicker fence and sunflowers. Hundreds of visitors took photos for souvenirs in Ukrainian wreaths and straw hats.

Near the tent, they learned the words “hello, thank you, and goodbye” in a friendly manner and danced to lively music. It was nice to hear from the visitors that Ukraine showed itself worthily at the Tokyo Olympics, that someone has a best friend from Ukraine, and others have a department head, etc. Valentyna Bogdanova, Borys Senyk, Dmytro Savytskyi, Oksana Tak and many others also came to support their compatriots at the festival.

And although no one could have predicted the wild success of the holiday or even the number of visitors due to fears of Covid-19, the conclusion is one: such events are extremely important for popularizing Ukrainian culture in Silicon Valley at the household level, which is no less important than large diplomatic missions. In addition, such holidays are also an important component of uniting and bringing the Ukrainian community together around common goals, because the strength of blue-yellow hearts is in unity.

(Iryna Kulchytska)