When Jane Yen and her family moved to Concord almost 20 years ago, they were surprised not only by the snow and the cold but by the culture.
It was the first time Yen had seen American people besides a bishop who had visited South Sudan when she was a child.
“There were not a lot of Black people then and they looked at us different,” Yen said. “They started to discriminate and it was the first time I realized I was dark; I was Black. I came home from school wanting to scrub my skin off because I felt ugly in it.”
A few years later, Yen and her family would attend the Concord Multicultural Festival for the first time, and it became a tradition. At the festival, she felt accepted and appreciated.
“It was an eye-opening experience for me and I got to see the other cultures and diversity in New Hampshire,” Yen said. “If you don’t attend the event, you don’t know how much diversity there really is and this allowed me to see that there was more diversity than I thought.”
The festival, once held near the State House in downtown Concord, has since been moved to Keach Park in the Heights, which has become one of the most racially diverse neighborhoods in the state, according to a 2020 census report.
The reason for the move, according to director Jessica Livingston, was to give New Americans better access to a festival celebrating their cultures.
“We realized the festival had been more of a city and tourist attraction and the audience was for the more affluent people or community members who don’t have challenges with accessibility,” she said. “Now, most refugees and immigrants can just walk over, in their community, to a layout that feels so much more conducive to this festival.”
When Livingston saw the huge turnout at Keach Park last year, she knew the committee made the right decision. She expects a big turnout this year, too.
Yen likes the new venue too, which offered a much bigger space and could accommodate more performances and vendors.
“I certainly agree, it does work much better in Keach Park because there are more New Americans living in the Heights than there are downtown,” Yen said.
With the growth comes more of a police presence, Livingston said. When the political landscape began to change in 2017, the festival committee worried about safety and being targeted by hate groups.
“We are here to celebrate people who are new to the community and have overcome traumatic experiences,” Livingston said. “They came here to escape violence and find safety and to have something like that happen would be devastating.”
In addition, for many New Americans police in their countries were to be feared.
“Where they’re coming from, the police aren’t good guys at all and having a police presence isn’t comforting for them, it’s traumatizing,” Livingston said.
Trying to meet both needs, Livingston asked the Concord Police Department to set up a booth where they can interact with the community directly and invited police to stop by during their regular shifts.
Yen said she feels safe at the festival, where she’ll be performing a traditional Sudanese dance.
“To have this event, it’s reassuring to all of us that this is a safe place and as much as you watch the news sometimes, it’s not as scary as it’s shown,” she said. “I forget about my worries and my concerns of being a Black woman in America. I worry about being Jane, about being myself.”
Concord’s Multicultural Festival will be held Sunday at Keach Park from 10:30 to 4:30.
Parking is available at the Community Bridges lot at 70 Pembroke Road.
While the event is free, food and goods are sold. Attendees are urged to bring cash as credit cards are not accepted.
For more info, go to concordnhmulticulturalfestival.org/home.