International Festival returns this weekend

LORAIN — The Lorain International Festival returns this weekend after a two-year hiatus. Canceled in 2020 and 2021 by the COVID-19 pandemic, Lorain's 54th annual festival opens at Black River Landing at 5 p.m. Friday and runs through Sunday. Prior to that, the International Festival Princesses have the annual breakfast at German's Villa 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and the free cultural night at 6 p.m. at St. Lad's Club and the Princess Pageant at 7 p.m. Thursday at Lorain High School's performing arts center. Lorain International Association Board President Chris Rewak was excited to bring back Lorain's homecoming festival. "We are extremely excited to be back, both for the festival as well as the city of Lorain," Rewak said."Not that anyone's counting, but when we open the festival on Friday, I believe it will be 1,090 days since the last festival." This year, attendees will see some of their favorite cultural performers like the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Mexican dance groups, alongside food vendors like the Italian American Veterans Post No. 1, Sacred Heart Chapel and Greater Victory Church, with new food trucks to supplement vendors unavailable after the pandemic. Food choices range from German to Thai, African-American, Jamaican, Filipino and Mediterranean. "We've talked with a lot of the other festivals and fairs and events throughout the state and each of them faced their challenges coming back," he said. This year's spotlight nationality is the city's Mexican community, which celebrated 100 years in Lorain in 2021. Deacon John Rivera, featured speaker at Wednesday's breakfast will represent the area's Mexican community, and the cultural night at St. Lad's will see members of the Mexican community serve dinners and dancers perform at the club. Thursday's Princess Pageant will crown a new queen and court after Alena Aguayo, representing her Puerto Rican heritage, and her court were the longest serving in the festival's history due to the pandemic, Rewak said. The 21 young women participating in the pageant this year is a strong showing from a broad range of nationalities given the two years without the event, he said. The Festival itself opens Friday night, with ethnic foods from throughout the International City, and Rumors, a Fleetwood Mac cover band starting at 9 p.m. On Saturday, Evil Ways, a Santana tribute band will perform at 9 p.m. On Sunday, the last day of the festival will see the parade march down the Broadway streetscape for the first time since the project was completed in fall 2019, starting at West 8th Street at 11:30 a.m. and marching to West Erie Avenue where they'll enter the festival grounds. Each day at the festival is a $3 entry fee. Despite the annual cloud of mayflies expected to overlap with the weekend's festivities, Rewak said there's no better place than Black River Landing to watch the sunset over the pavilion, with the flags lined along the landing. "I've always seen the festival as Lorain's homecoming and an opportunity for the people that are in Lorain to see the people they haven't seen in a while, people that are out of Lorain to come back and visit and gather together, celebrate their heritage and old friends over the common bond of food, music, dance," he said. "And to have the opportunity to put that on for the city, it's a wonderful opportunity and I look forward to making the city proud with this year's festival." For more information, or to purchase tickets to the Princess Pageant, visit loraininternational.com. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.