01/22/2024
Dear Friends of Hopkinsville International Festival,
It is with a heavy heart that I share with you that I was just informed last week that our festival has been cancelled. I, Nina Shalom, have served on the planning committee and have been the coordinator of the Global Village area of our festival for the past 13 years. It truly breaks my heart that an event that many of us have put our heart and effort into and that has had such an amazing impact on our community to raise global awareness and celebrate diversity has come to such an abrupt ending.
I was told that more support was needed to keep the festival going, but there was never even one committee meeting called to inform all of us who are involved that there was even a danger of cancelling the event. As someone who believes passionately in the mission of Ifest and has invested so much time, energy and resources into this event I would have fought to try to find whatever support was needed to keep it going this year.
Lives have been tremendously impacted through the Hopkinsville International Festival. At Ifest our international community is seen and celebrated for who they are, walls are broken down between cultures and beautiful connections have been formed in our community. This is the only event in our city that does this on this scale. I am going to fight to raise the support we need to hopefully reinstate Ifest in 2025. I cannot do this alone. Please share in the comments what Ifest means to you and why you want it to continue. Also, if you can pledge financial support to bring it back, join the planning committee or volunteer, please let me know details on how you can serve.
I applaud the City of Hopkinsville for all their work on this beautiful event over the years and admonish them to continue to support this event. One attendee told me that this is the sole event that the city does that makes them proud to live in Hopkinsville. I share the same sentiment. As the mother of intercultural children I desire to live in a city where there is a platform to raise cultural awareness and celebrate diversity. Without Ifest in our community there is not currently this platform, and our losses are monumental. Every person in our beautiful international community deserves to be known, seen and celebrated and their unique gifts shared with the community at large to enrich us all. Thank you to all the amazing volunteers I have had the honor to get to know and work with over the years. Many people have already reached out to me heartbroken on what they will miss out on this year. Your voice matters! Please show your support in any way you can to get our event back for next year!
Thank you! Gracias! Shukran! Shukria! Mahalo! Dhanyavaad! Merci! Danke! Arigatou! Obrigado! Salamat!
