Celebrate Nashville culture festival is a vibrant display of the city's diversity

Drum beats echoed across Centennial Park as creative and colorful narrative of Danza Azteca took shape across the lawn. 

In brilliant feather headdress and face paint, the men, women and small dancers entertained an enthralled crowd gathered just beyond the shade of Nashville's Parthenon.

It was just one of the creative and elegant displays that took place during Saturday's Celebrate Nashville Cultural Festival.

The annual event, which drew thousands of people from across the city, is vibrant reminder of Nashville's diversity bringing together people from all corners of the world to share cultures and traditions.

"It's definitely great," said Micsha Durham as she sat in the shade with her 6-year-old Zion eating a snack. "This way Nashville can be exposed to a little bit of everybody. We can learn about each other, and also learn more about ourselves."

'We all have something unique about us'

More than one-in-10 Nashvillians are foreign born, according to the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. Fifty four percent of those have lived in the United States for more than 10 years.

Statewide, Tennessee has approximately 350,000 foreign-born residents.

Durham has lived in Nashville for nearly two decades. She is black, but her grandmother, Yoshiko, was 100% Japanese. Her son, whose dad is white, is also mixed race. It was important to Durham that Zion saw all the different backgrounds represented in Nashville.

The festival was full of them. From Kurdistan to Indonesia, in the Global Village people played the traditional music of their homelands and spoke in their native language. Colorful clothing and decorations offered an authentic look at their heritage.

Wafts of pad thai and curry, churros and pupusas floated across the park, with the promise of Mexican popsicles luring festival goers who danced and sang under the day's hot sun.

At the World Market, booths selling unique hand-crafted and imported items from around the world drew the attention of those shopping for jewelry and unique trinkets. There were intricate works from Peruvian gourd carver Pedro Osores and colorful sand art from Ala Alsalieby, who came to the United States from Jordan two years ago.

In the Teen’s United area, displays reflected the high schoolers' heritage and current lifestyle. Hosted by the Oasis Center, it offered music and dance performances throughout the day.

"We want people to feel like they are welcome," said 16-year-old Angelli Aguilar, whose parents immigrated from El Salvador.

"It's not just the U.S.A., it's everyone," added co-organizer Estefany Sanchez, a native of Honduras who, along with Aguilar, is a junior at Glencliff High School.

"We all have unique dances and unique food," Aguilar said. "We all have something unique about us."

And yet, we are all human.

Reach Jessica Bliss at 615-259-8253 and jbliss@tennessean.com or on Twitter @jlbliss and please support local journalism.