Parade Of Nations & Multicultural Festival Takes Place Saturday

Food and music are front and center at the 2018 Parade of Nations which steps off at 11 a.m. Saturday in Hancock. The procession makes its way across the Portage Lake Lift Bridge to Dee Stadium on the Houghton waterfront where the Multicultural Festival features 11 international performances on the main stage and 22 food booths serving affordable cuisine. Outdoor dining will again be available this year, and trivia contests and prizes take place all day—the biggest of which is a drawing for a Chicago getaway for two including hotel and airfare. To enter, make an “I Love Parade of Nations” sign and hold it up on the parade route. Parade of Nations organizers will be handing out tickets to the drawing.

The festival wraps at 3 p.m but the fun isn’t done. Olé, described as “three guitar locos who sing like the BeeGees and rhumba like the Gypsy Kings,” perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Michigan Technological University’s Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $15 for adults, $5 for youth and at no charge for students in the Experience Tech program (reserve at  tickets@mtu.edu).

Founded by Michigan Tech, the 29-year-old Parade of Nations is more than a Tech tradition—it’s a community-wide event made possible with the help of the cities of Hancock and Houghton, and Finlandia University. Two internationally known sponsors have stepped up to support this year’s event: Cummins Inc. and McDonald’s. Cummins senior product engineer Ashish Gupta says Cummins will attend the event to be a part of promoting global unity and cultural awareness. The full list of sponsors who make the festival possible includes many local businesses, along with widespread support across the Michigan Tech campus.

For more on the event, see “Ole at the Rozsa: Food, Music and Laughter on Saturday’s Menu” on Michigan Tech News