From left, Harry Dominguez, Michael Ractliffe, Michelle Sauve and Sadiki Bamperineza stand outside Big Marble Go Centre on Wednesday.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
The What Matters to Hatters Coalition is excited to announce that Medicine Hat Culture Days is back for 2024.
What was previously stretched into several days of various cultural sports, crafts and demonstrations has been condensed into five hours of opportunity on Sept. 15 from noon to 5 p.m.
The event comes out of a survey that was conducted in 2022, said Michelle Sauve, a member of the What Matters to Hatters Coalition.
“One of the things people talked about was more free, family oriented, multicultural events in the community, so that people can have a better understanding of all the cultures represented in Medicine Hat,” said Sauve. With the help of various partners and a new grant for the second annual edition, Medicine Hat Cultural Days intends to provide just that.
The event is being hosted as a collaboration between the coalition, Brooks and County Immigration Services, EverActive Schools and the Medicine Hat Local Immigration Partnership, as well as the Big Marble Go Centre and Big Marble Farms. The event is also partially government funded through Heritage Canada.
The centre is excited to be hosting everything, said Michael Ractliffe, superintendent of recreation for the City of Medicine Hat.
“We feel that this particular event is something that our community and recreation department should be definitely supporting as we try to build community and recreation programs for our citizens of Medicine Hat,” said Ractliffe. He added that as someone who has recently become a Canadian citizen, being able to say “yes” and lend support to the event is particularly meaningful to him.
The day kicks off with a multicultural soccer tournament at 10 a.m., said Harry Dominguez, area co-ordinator with Brooks & County Immigration Services.
They have four teams with people from a variety of different countries and backgrounds; while some of them may not share the same languages, they were able to connect through a love of sport last year.
From there, activities vary from Thai fruit carving, to dance, blacksmithing, a workshop on Blackfoot and Cree ways, to a chance to try international sports such as cricket, all free of charge. Some events may require registration, which can be done on eventbrite.ca.
In addition to free activities, there will be a vendor market selling cultural crafts and foods throughout the duration of the day.
“This kind of day shows how our community gets talents through immigration, because we have many people coming into our community who bring their talents and passions, and who can contribute to the growth of the Community Through Art and games, and it will be really a good day to learn about all of it,” said Sadiki Bamperineza, co-ordinator with the Medicine Hat Local Immigration Partnership.
Bamperineza continued that learning about different cultures allows for people to get to see the similarities between themselves and different cultures, make connections, and help newcomers or those from other parts of the world feel welcome.
“In that way, we’ll be building an inclusive community in our city,” said Bamperineza.
