The community celebration featured performances, food, music and more for audiences to enjoy.
Sara Winick, Patch Staff
|Updated Mon, Dec 2, 2024 at 5:16 pm ET
MARLBORO, NJ — Marlboro Township hosted its 15th Annual Multi-Cultural Day event on Sunday, bringing together community members of all ages and backgrounds for an evening of performances and festivities.
From 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., the Multi-Cultural Day Committee presented dances, music, food and more honoring cultures from around the world at Marlboro High School.
Committee Co-Chairs Rita Verma and Alice Ng welcomed guests to the celebration and spoke about the significance of the event.
“15 years ago, this day began as a simple idea,” Verma said. “But now it has become a remarkable journey of understanding and connection.”
"Today, when we share our music, our food, our dance, we are building understanding," Verma continued. "We are showing that our connections are not walls, but doorways to deeper connection."
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For the first part of Sunday’s celebration, audiences were able to enjoy 19 cultural performances from nations around the world.
Chinese martial arts, a Polish accordion medley, a Ukrainian Christmas and Taiwanese and Hong Kong Yo-Yo were just some of the many featured performances.
“When we come together, we are not just performing dances and songs,” Verma said. “We are telling stories of our roots, our histories and our families. Each performance is a window into a world of rich tradition that makes our community so beautifully diverse.”
Following the Multi-Cultural Day performances, attendees were welcomed back to the high school cafeteria to view cultural displays and sample different kinds of food.
Children in attendance were able to hold a “passport,” which they could stamp when visiting each country’s booth. Those who collected stamps for all countries received a toy prize.
“You know what’s great about today’s event?" Verma joked. "It’s the only event where you can travel around the world without going through airport security."
More than anything, members of the Multi-Cultural Day Committee emphasized the importance of bringing community members together through the annual celebration.
Whether people join to see the different performances and exhibits or sample new kinds of food, organizers said the event has grown each year and evolved to include more and more of the Marlboro community.
“This is our 15th year,” Verma told Patch. “It began as a simple day, but now it has grown. People look forward to this event [each year], and they ask us in advance ‘When can we come? When is the event?’”
“It brings the community together,” Verma continued. “And, you know, it takes hard work to go through the program, around four or five months to put it together. But all the committee members really enjoy it and work hard to put on the event each year.”
To learn more about Marlboro’s Multi-Cultural Day Committee, you can visit their Facebook page or the Township website.