Great Falls set to host third annual Montana Cultural Fair

More than 18 cultures will be represented at the third annual Montana Cultural Fair in Great Falls, featuring live performances, food samples, and activities.

Visitors will have the opportunity to learn about different cultures and traditions through crafts, clothes, and food.

A $10 admission fee – called a passport – will take you on a trip to a variety of booths representing nationalities such as Tonga and Samoa, East India, and Venezuela to name just a few.

The $10 passport fee is for admission, inclusive of food samples at the cultural booths and all cultural performances on the stage at the venue. Event t-shirts, the beer garden, Pepsi stand, and food trucks of full meals are all separate purchases.

The event will feature live performances including dances, music, and storytelling from local and international artists.

Zach Swartz, the chair of the event, explained, “In Great Falls especially, we’re such a small community. It’s great to see that even in our own backyards, that we have the opportunity to come together and really showcase what we’re most proud of, which is the diversity and the cultures and community that we have.”

The event is hosted by the Rotary Club of Electric City, and they are still looking for additional volunteers to help out the day of the event for a variety of shifts ranging from 9am to 9pm. Each volunteer will receive free entry to the event and a t-shirt. If you’re interested in volunteering, click here.

They are also participating in an international fundraising project to supply clean water stations to Guatemala. Proceeds from the beer garden, t-shirt sales, and donations from the event will go toward installing Tippy Tap water stations. There will also be demonstrations of these Tippy Tap water stations at the fair.

This is the third year of the event, and it has continued to expand as more members of the community and businesses join in.

“Seeing new cultures pop up has been great,” Swartz says, “Like this year we have Tonga and Samoa. We had not had those in previous years, so it’s really great to see the buy-in and spreading the word year after year and getting some new cultures involved.”

Sponsors of the event include KRTV, Eagle Beverage, Calumet Montana Refining, TDS Fiber, and the Great Falls Military Affairs Committee.

The Montana Cultural Fair will be on Thursday, August 8th, at the Great Falls Civic Center (#2 Park Drive South) from 5pm to 8pm. For more information about the event, click here.