A somewhat new society in Smithers is hosting its first event.
The Smithers Multicultural Society formed at the beginning of this year and are now putting together a virtual concert to showcase the area’s cultural diversity.
Organizers of the event were hoping to hold it earlier this year but like most things in 2020, the pandemic put a hold on it.
“We got together a week before the pandemic, we had our first planning committee and the week right after that COVID hit,” said one of the founding members, Patricia Kolida. “We put a hold on meeting. But our intention is to promote the rich cultural diversity of Smithers and the surrounding areas with music, dance and storytelling.”
The concert will feature local people from different backgrounds.
“We’ll have different performers from different cultures, so far we have highland dancers, fiddlers, traditional story tellers, Slavic dancers and we are waiting for confirmation from a few others,” said another society founder, Luba Kasum.
The society wants people to not only enjoy the concert but hopefully learn to respect each other.
“We also want to encourage and empower community members to embrace and share their cultural traditions in celebration with others,” added Kolida. “We also hope this will encourage other community members to start their own cultural society, dance or storytelling group.”
They hope to film the concert in the bringing of November and have it available to view by the end of that month.
“Smithers is quite a vibrant community. We want to achieve unity through diversity,” said Kasum. “We want to show the great mosaic of our different cultures.”
Meantime, they will be holding a fundraiser. A barbecue will be held at Bovill Square on Oct. 24 from 11- 1:30. The proceeds will go toward putting together the concert.
Anyone wishing to get involved with the online event can contact the society by finding them on Facebook or emailing them: mulitcuturalsmithers@gmail.com
