SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A festival celebrating all nations took place in South Sacramento as it highlighted the rich heritage and ethnic diversity of the community.
The South Sacramento Heritage Festival took over the Mack Road and Franklin Boulevard area.
"We live in a very diverse community,” said Mai Nguyen, event organizer.
That diversity was on full display this weekend.
“Most of us are immigrants coming to a new country, new land and yet, we all unite and come together,” said Nguyen.
The two-day festival was all about connecting different cultures, foods and ethnicity groups for a weekend of celebration.
“We are very blessed to have multiple different types of ethnic groups that come in and join the event,” said Danny Ly, who helped organized the event.
The event celebrated diversity, but also gave businesses a much-needed boost after the pandemic and sometimes crime-caused setbacks.
“It's very important that for the little people that have businesses, it just gets us up back up on our feet. It really does,” said Christy Flynn, a vendor who sold jewelry at the event.
Bill Knowlton, executive director for the Mack Road Partnership, said things are looking up as they focus on cleanliness and have security throughout the district.
“We want to make sure that people know: we are open, we are open for business,” said Knowlton. “We are ready for commerce. And if you look at even through the pandemic, if you look at the last four years, we have added 30 businesses to this district. So, was it tough going? Absolutely tough going. Did we come out of it? Yes. And the Mack Road Partnership is there to make sure that anything a business owner needs, we are going to figure out how to get it done.”
As the first-year event wraps up, the hope is the diversity in the community continues to shine.
“It really is about connecting, about sharing and finding out that we do have the same common grounds,” said Nguyen.
Organizers said they are pleased with how this weekend turned out, and they are looking to make it an annual event.
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