As the cultural fair started, food spilled out from booths across the world. From Germany to Japan, Iceland to Uruguay, students came together to learn about different cultures.

 Setting up this event was an incredible task and took a lot of time and effort. With last year’s cultural fair’s huge turnout, this year’s fair was expected to be bigger and better than ever. Junior Andrea Shah, who organized the event, delivered just that. 

“My favorite part of this fair is that everyone is really open to learning about the different cultures. I see people I’ve never seen before so interested in learning about others,” said Shah. “Alyana Leck (another organizer for the event) and I both recognize that there is so much diversity in Santa Fe and it’s not always celebrated and I wanted to put that out there”. 

In addition to food, there were also beautiful cultural garments worn by students throughout the fair. Junior Arriana Charqueno wore a beautiful Quinceanera dress. Her love for the fair and her own culture radiated off of her. 

“My fav part about the cultural fair was being able to show the Mexican culture and how we have different traditions,” Charqueno said. “It was also really fun to see everyone love my dress and taking pictures with strangers was really fun and crazy,” 

When asked about her Quinceanera, she showed her appreciation for the event and talks highly about why she was so excited to show a part of her people usually don’t get to see. 

“My favorite part about my Quince was seeing all my family and getting to spend a whole day with them,” Charqueno said. “Doing dances with my cousins and damas (my friends). It

was also really exciting to be able to do a whole planned choreography with my closest friends and cousins. Plus, the food my Tias made was the bomb”.

 If you missed out this year and want in on the next cultural fair, then look for sign-up sheets next February when the cultural fair will be back in town.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Annabelle Gentling

Vietnamese booth