REMINDER: Celebrate Middle Eastern and North African cultures at May 18 event in Ellicott City

Celebrate the cultures of North Africa and the Middle East at an afternoon full of entertaining cultural demonstrations, music, dance, food, displays and enlightening presentations.

The North Africa and Middle East Culture Fest will be held on Sunday, May 18, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Howard County Library System’s Miller Branch, which is located at 9421 Frederick Road in Ellicott City.

It will highlight the countries of Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

This free event is a collaboration between Columbia Association (CA) and the Howard County Library System.

“There are many misconceptions in the United States about that part of the world, and a lamentable lack of knowledge about the people and cultures of that area,” said Pat Fisher, who heads up CA’s International and Multicultural Advisory Committee. “We don’t realize how much influence that region has had on Western cultures for centuries, and how much our cultures owe to theirs.”

This is the sixth Culture Fest. The others were for Latin America, West Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and in celebration of Columbia’s new sister city of Tema, Ghana.

Snacks and refreshments will be available at the North Africa and Middle East Culture Fest. People will be able to pick up a “Culture Passport” and complete it for door prizes by visiting exhibitors’ tables.

For more information, contact Laura Smit, program manager for CA’s International Exchange and Multicultural Programs, by calling 410-715-3162 or sending an email toInternational@ColumbiaAssociation.org.

About Columbia Association

Columbia Association (CA) is a nonprofit service corporation that manages Columbia, MD, a planned community that is home to approximately 100,000 people and several thousand businesses. Additional information about CA is available at ColumbiaAssociation.org.