Experience the culture of Colorado's second-largest immigrant community at this free event.
“Our motivation is really just love of the culture,” says Nebiyu Asfaw, co-founder of the. The free event is set to take place from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on August 5 at Parkfield Lake Park, 15555 East 53rd Avenue in northeast Denver.
“These families are a success story,” says festival co-founder Girum Alemayehu. “They recognize the value that America gave us — the hope, the opportunities. We have to pay back that opportunity [and] show that we are grateful to be here. So, we are generously presenting our culture.”“We want to share an opportunity to learn about the food, the music, the culture, the dance, the traditional attire, the stories,” says Asfaw.
Coffee is another highlight of the event. “It's not like a Starbucks coffee — you grab a cup and go,” jokes Alemayehu. “We roast it there. We show how to make it, and we show the ceremony of coffee [and] why coffee is important in Ethiopian culture.” “The first Ethiopian immigrants started arriving in the mid-‘70s during the revolution when the monarchy was overthrown in Ethiopia,” explains Asfaw. “In the mid-‘80s, there was a huge crisis in Ethiopia, the Great Famine. Over a million people died and again, there was a big influx of refugees. Colorado was one of the amazing states that opened its doors for Ethiopians.”
Alemayehu adds that prior to the 1974 revolution, it was common for Ethiopians to come to the United States for schooling, but to quickly return to Ethiopia post-graduation. “We are very home-oriented people. But that communist revolution [was] dangerous to the country, to the culture, to the people in Ethiopia. We [were] fearful of that intervention and so we found home — a safe haven — here in the United States.
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