A County of Culture: the Orange International Street Fair

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Emma Moore, Editor-in-Chief

From watching traditional Greek dances to learning how to pronounce Æbleskiver, (EB-el-skuwyr), the Orange International Street Fair is the place to be to experience cultures from around the world.

Over the Labor Day weekend, the Orange Circle in Old Town Orange was turned into a international cultural festival celebrating what the world has to offer. After walking around for half an hour trying to decide which food to try first, my family and I finally settled on Danish Æbleskivers and were not disappointed. The dish is traditionally made by baking pancake batter like dough into balls and topping it off with jam and powdered sugar.

The majority of our night was spent eating foods from as many different countries as possible, including teriyaki beef from Japan, fish n’ chips from England, bratwurst from Germany, and loukoumathes from Greece. Although food is the main reason to visit, the diverse music was the biggest attraction at the street fair. Bands that were chosen to represent entire cultures performed on different stages all weekend.

“The best it has ever been,” was the answer I got from several people when I asked them their opinion on this year’s musical performances.

The night opened with the band American Wake, an Irish style band who enjoys playing covers of Disney’s Frozen and Bon Jovi, and was followed by the thrash metal American band, Railgun.

In between eating delicious food and listening to good music, we watched a Greek dancer perform a traditional dance while balancing a full glass on his head as accompaniment to the Greek band Sylthesi.

The highlight of the night was watching the southern rock band, the Sam Morrison Band, perform on the main stage as the fair’s closing act. It’s unbelievable how many different cultures we live around and never get to experience. If you weren’t able to go this year, make it a priority to try indigenous cuisines and listen to ethnic music next year at the Orange International Street Fair.