Cultural Park turned international on Saturday as Cape Coral's cultural festival welcomed attendees with passport booklets at the entrance.
The premise: Collect a stamp from every booth and trade the completed passport for a water bottle — Florida’s version of hydrated world travel.
"Each year we try to change the flags at the top of the stage. We always keep the United States of America flag," said Emily Hager, senior recreation specialist for the city of Cape Coral, who apparently hadn’t informed the sun about the dress code. At 89 degrees, it showed up looking to scorch.
The park carried the scent of a global cook-off — with Caribbean, Cuban and Italian food trucks leading the charge, but they weren’t alone. Vendors lined the perimeter of the grassy field, offering everything from crafts to clothing.
Most visitors gravitated toward a massive tent in the center that served as both oasis and audience chamber.
At the German American booth, Ed Freund greeted guests in traditional lederhosen — once considered workwear, now rebranded as party attire.
“The lederhosen are age-old farmers’ clothes, worker clothes. They're now celebratory club clothes, rather than working clothes — the dresses that the ladies wear called dirndls, and the men wear lederhosen, leather pants,” Freund said.
He said his booth has found success at the event, sharing the club's motto: “The word we use for our club is ‘gemütlichkeit,’ and that means a friendship and a camaraderie of all our members and anyone who is interested in the German culture.”
A few booths away, 10-year-old Emma Thuy Pham had just finished her traditional Vietnamese fan dance.
"I get to share what I represent," she said, adding both her favorite and least favorite parts of cultural representation. "And to not call us Chinese, because people always call us Chinese. I'm like, no, there's other Asian stuff."
Nearby, Mariellen King presented Irish soda bread with a green Celtic backdrop and a slice of family history.
"We grew up with all the Irish music, all the Irish dance and the Irish food and bread. So this is her recipe, my mama's Irish soda bread recipe, that was actually her mama's,” she said. The final loaf of bread sat in a clear case atop a green tablecloth, surrounded by Irish mugs for sale.
"It's just great to celebrate culture whenever you can,” Hager added. “And when you listen to a new type of music, see a new type of dance, it honestly unlocks something in your brain where you're like, ‘Oh, I kind of enjoyed that beat or something.’ So, I just encourage people to go out and enjoy the world.”
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.