Cultures from around the globe will be showcased on Saturday, Oct. 28, in the Memorial Student Center’s Don Morris Room.

The festival is West Virginia’s oldest and longest-running international festival, with this year’s being the 60th annual. The festival will feature vendors, food stands and other attractions. 

A parade will open the festival, which will run from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The parade will feature people wearing traditional cultural outfits in alphabetical order of the clothing’s homelands.

Stephanie Shaffer, Marshall’s coordinator for International Affairs, said that the festival is an opportunity to learn about various cultures.

“There’s a lot that we don’t know living here in America, and there’s a lot about us that they don’t know when they come here,” she said. “It’s just about learning about each other.”

Acceptance is the ultimate goal of the festival, Shaffer said. 

“That’s the goal always–is students, faculty, staff, community feel they’re represented, they’re accepted, they’re welcome on this campus,” she said. “Immersing yourself into the cultures, accepting the differences.”

The festival will also host a silent auction, where those in attendance can receive gift baskets. One of the baskets, sponsored by international vendors that cannot attend the event in person, will provide the winner with gift cards to their restaurants.

Those in attendance will have an opportunity to educate themselves on different foreign countries.

“You may learn about a culture you didn’t even know about,” Shaffer said.