On Saturday Oct. 12, the City of Lakewood held their 4th annual Fest-of-all celebration allowing people to experience food, music and dance from different cultures all free of charge.
There were two different stages during the event, one was for cultural dances and the other was a place for bands.
One of the bands, Las Chikas, played salsa music as a crowd filled the area in front of the stage with couples dancing and families gathering to enjoy the music.
“The music definitely,” said Kelly Reynolds of Long Beach when asked about her favorite part of the event, “ . . . we’ll definitely come back for this”
Directly across was the cultural stage where performers proudly represented themselves through dance.
This included traditional Hmong dancing which incorporated large drums and rhythmic music.
Following up that performance was a rendition of Mexican folk dance as the dancers wore outfits full of color.
Caribbean music filled the stage soon after as limbo was performed and kids were brought out to participate in the fun.
A performance of multiple types of Korean dance was on display before the show was finished off by Arpana Dance Company who showed the crowd classical Indian dance.
If you ever got hungry enjoying the music, the fest-of-all offered plenty of food options.
Guest could choose from woodfire pies served traditional Italian pizza while right next door, El Churro Panzon, offered delicious ice cream churro combos for dessert.
Besides the trucks, other food stands served Cajun, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, and Creole food giving guests the opportunity to try foods they may not have otherwise.
Walking into Fest-of-all you are greeted with a passport telling you to visit different stations to receive stamps and a prize at the end.
Some of the stations include organizations such as the YMCA Lakewood branch, Boy Scouts Long Beach council, and mom code the Lakewood circle.
Each booth offers information about upcoming events in the local area hoping to continue to bring the community together.
Jaime Martinez, who was helping organize the Boy Scout booth, stated “We’re meeting other people from the community that we already know so it’s kinda cool to run into people in a social setting like this.”
Once you complete your passport, you reach the children’s cultural center where kids and their families gather to draw and learn about new places.
There you receive your prize for completing the checklist, you get to select either a free tambourine or a stress ball, whichever you prefer.
Once completed, kids can head over to a fun area dedicated for them including bouncy castles, slides, and a mechanical bull the kids took turns riding,
Beyond that, Fest-of-all is full of vendors selling their own often handmade items such as jewelry, ceramics, or even clothes you and your dog can match in.
The aforementioned clothes you and your pooch can match in come from the Toby & Linus brand run by Bri Kish of Los Angeles
“Honestly I’ve never really seen anything like this, it’s very exciting, it’s very unique and I think it’s very special, it’s been very special,” Kish said.
Fest-of-all concluded at 8 p.m. finishing the night off with pop music and people dancing as they left.
