Thread: CA: Dance celebrates immigrants at Redwood City

Dance, food highlight history of Peninsula's immigrants Redwood City to hold celebration at Courthouse Square today
By Shaun Bishop, MEDIANEWS STAFF
Article Last Updated: 06/16/2007 02:43:25 AM PDT

Immigrants will take center stage in Redwood City today with a festival celebrating the Peninsula's diverse communities.
The city will host its second Immigrants' Day Festival in Courthouse Square, featuring dancing from cultures around the world, food tasting and tours of the county history museum's permanent exhibit on people who came to the region in the 19th and 20th centuries.

"In the 1880s, one-third of the population of San Mateo County was born in another country — and still is today," said Carmen Blair, deputy director of the museum. "This has always been with us."

Performances by groups that reflect the varied cultures of the area — Irish, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Mexican, Italian and Filipino — will last from noon to 4 p.m.

"Exposure to a different culture goes a long way in teaching people how to empathize with others," said Albert Le, founder of the San Jose-based Far East Dragon & Lion Dance Association, which will perform a traditional Chinese dance. "When you understand where other people are coming from, where their foundations are, it creates a better dialogue between ethnic groups."

County history museum president Mitch Postel will also give tours of an exhibit titled "Land of Opportunity: The Immigrant Experience in San Mateo County," which opened last summer after several years of gathering artifacts and stories from Peninsula communities. Museum admission will be half-price — $2 for adults and $1 for students and seniors.

"It's been one of the most popular exhibits that we have here," Blair said.

E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateoco ... ci_6157838

ICE should be at the dance. It would be nice if ICE enforced the laws.

immigrants - yes.....illegals - NO!!