(upbeat music) - The International Folk Festival celebrates global cultures through dance, music, and costume, in honor of the International Day of Peace.

Here with more information is Adrian Ruiz, Board Chair of the International Peace Gardens.

- Hi, Adrian.

- Hi.

How are you?

- I'm doing great, and I'm so glad you're here.

And this is, like, 25 years of this Folk Festival.

- Yeah, the festival has been going on for many, many years, but this is the first year that we've decided to do it with the Day of Peace around the world.

So, festivals will be held all over around the world, the same as ours.

- [Laura] All over around the world on September 20th.

- On September 20th, uh-huh.

- And, you know, what a perfect place, of course; the International Peace Gardens.

For people who, I keep meeting people who don't know about this garden.

- Tell us about it.

- Yeah.

The Peace Garden started after World War I and after every subsequent war; World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War.

Different countries have come in, and we have 28 gardens representing 28 separate countries.

And each of those gardens are not gonna be represented, of course, it's too much, but we've got nine gardens being represented this year.

So, that's where the festival will be held, representing nine of those gardens.

- So, the festival celebrates nine of the countries in the gardens - Nine of the countries.

Correct.

- And tell us, what does the festival look like?

- The festival looks like, well, there's a outdoor stage, and it's covered.

There's seating, there'll be food vendors, there'll be crafts, and it's just an international folk festival; song, music, and dance.

And the Salt Lake Community College, their design studio are gonna do... the students have decided they're gonna take a country or two and create a costume from that.

- Oh, wonderful.

- Which is something really unusual for a folk festival.

So, they're not dancing or singing, they're just gonna come on and parade around like they're at a, you know, fashion show.

- They're bringing the costumes.

- They're bringing the costumes.

Go ahead.

- I love it.

And so, this is something that people can, you know, bring a picnic.

They can buy food there.

- Yes.

Or we ask you to come bring your picnic, bring your basket, sit on the lawn.

There are chairs, but it's really more fun to sit on the grass and watch everybody dance and sing.

And you're right there.

The stage is, you're almost this close.

You and I are as close; if you sat on the front row, you'd be this close.

- Oh, wonderful.

It sounds like a great evening.

Thank you for being here.

- Sure, thank you.

- If you would like to learn more about this Folk Festival, it's international, globally happening on September 20th, and we're holding it here in Utah at the International Peace Gardens.

It's at Jordan Park.

If you've never been, it's at 1060 South, 900 West.

1060 South, 900 West.

Learn more and make sure you click on Events when you go to internationalpeacegardens.com.

That's internationalpeacegardens.com.

I'm Laura Durham.

Thank you for watching "Contact".

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