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words Harriet Ann Dy     photographs Lindsay Parrish What do you need to go around the world without hopping on an airplane? A sense of culinary and culture adventure, and a Carassauga passport. At the 25th Carassauga Festival of Cultures you can enjoy poisson gros sel (salty fish in gravy) from the French Creole Islands, discover joget pahang, a traditional Malay dance, and catch Maltese singer Petra Zammit in a live performance...and you can enjoy them all without leaving Mississauga. Sixty-eight countries are represented at this year’s Carassauga celebration. This annual event is Ontario’s largest multicultural festival. It will be held from May 28-30 at the Hershey Centre as well as various locations around Mississauga. New pavilions include the French Creole Islands (Haiti, Martinique, Marie-Galante, Saint Barthelemy, Ste. Lucie, La Desirade), Guyana, Italy, Thailand, Malta, Syria, Lithuania, and Vietnam. “The most interesting part of Carassauga is that you can put people from countries that do not get along with each other in the same room and yet for Carassauga, everybody gets along and works together,” says Jack Prazeres, chair of Carassauga’s board of directors. “It is the most amazing feeling to be the chair of a festival that can put together this many cultural groups and work in harmony.” Inspired by the Carabram multicultural festival in Brampton, in 1985, Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion challenged a group of ethnocultural leaders to develop a similar festival to celebrate the city’s own diversity. Seven months later, in May 1986, Carassauga was born. Over two days, 10 pavilions operated at city community centres, arenas, and privately operated facilities. Portugal, Philippines, India, Croatia and Greece are five of the original participants that still maintain a presence today. That year, the Festival sold about 3000 passports and had 10,000 visitors. In 2008, Carassauga sold 29,000 passports, and attracted approximately 3000 volunteers. This year, organizers expect 250,000 visitors over three days. “This is a very important event for each community,” says Russ Pooley, who has been the city’s staff advisory liaison to the festival since 1986. “It is like representing your country in the Olympics - many volunteers have put their jobs and their personal lives on the line to deliver their pavilions with finesse and pride.” Pooley, who still remembers attending the first Carassauga meeting at the “old” city hall when it was still at the corner of Robert Speck Parkway and City Centre, has many personal memories of the festival. “The stage shows are particularly outstanding,” he says, recalling memorable performances by dancers from Ukraine and Serbia, the Chinese dragon dance, hula dancers from Hawaii, and belly dancers from Egypt. He also remembers being moved, listening to almost 100 performers sing at the Philippines pavilion. He has also marvelled how an arena can be transformed to an Italian or Cypriot village, but what he cherishes most is the warm hospitality that greets him when he visits each venue. “People welcome you to their pavilion like they would welcome you to their home,” he says. Carassauga was also where Linda Keen-Lausberg, the festival’s vice chair for Marketing, made her own culinary discoveries. “Being able to try and discover different food is one of the best things about the festival,” she says. “I tried tandoori chicken for the first time at the Indian pavilion last year, and have been enjoying it ever since.” As Mississauga’s population continues to grow (currently 718,000 - twice that when Carassauga started in 1986), the city’s challenge is how to accommodate and represent smaller communities. Central locale This year, the Carassauga board has centralized the event in a core area around Hershey Centre, which will showcase 29 countries. The remaining 39 countries will be housed in 16 pavilions throughout the city. Country-participation this year is the largest since the festival’s inception 25 years ago. Where to start If this is your first Carassauga event, Keen-Lausberg suggests that the Hershey Centre may be a good place to start. In addition to pavilion visits, there is also a new Kids’ Zone. There will be soccer and lacrosse demonstrations, bouncy castles, face painting, and performances by kiddie entertainer Lenny Graf for the little ones. Children 12 and under are free when accompanied by an adult. Getting around Saturday and Sunday afternoons can get really busy, so make sure to anticipate extra large crowds around these times. This year, Carassauga will open earlier at 1 pm on the weekend. Plan your route, and check out hub sites with multiple pavilions. Pick different countries to get a fresh perspective if you have visited Carassauga previously. Come hungry, so you can try the best food each country has to offer. This year’s highlights   Other festival highlights include marquee performances by Suzie McNeil, Mississauga native and contestant on CBS television’s reality series Rockstar: INXS in 2005. She is also a 2008 nominee for a Canadian Radio Music Award, a Juno awardee for Best New Artist. More recently, she performed Believe at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic closing ceremony. Meanwhile, Liberty Silver, a Canadian-born, Grammy and Juno-award-winning jazz artist will headline the festivities on Friday night. For more details visit www.carassauga.com  GL

Above from left to right Hawaii, Mexico, Egypt, India The annual event is Ontario's largest multicultural festival Mississauga's Juno Winner and Olympic performer Suzie McNeil Liberty Silver headlines festivities Friday night Dancers from the Ukraine