Dancers at the 2013 International Festival at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)
Picti, a duo performing Celtic rock, will be featured performers at the International Festival on Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. The duo will have the audience on their feet as they entertain with bagpipes, bouzouki, whistles and drums, drawing on tribal elements from Celtic traditions.
Festival goers will experience entertainment, crafts, and cuisines from cultures around the world at the family friendly event, with musical and dance entertainment on stage throughout the day. Participants will dine on international cuisine, children will make international crafts to take home, and all will visit booths displaying crafts and traditions from world cultures.
The International Festival will be from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Children’s Museum, 461 West Outer Dr., Oak Ridge. Food will be available from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Returning this year will be the Kids Fest from 8-10 a.m., featuring international crafts, tasting food from other cultures, and dancing. The Kids Fest is for children in second through seventh grades, the cost is $15 per person, and pre-registration is required. Accompanying adults are admitted with regular International Festival admission.
Picti brings David Doersch and Catherine Hauke back to the Children’s Museum International Festival stage. Formerly two of the featured performers of Coyote Run, Doersch and Hauke have come together as the Celtic duo.
Other performers at the International Festival will include the klezmer band Dor L’Dor; Good Thymes Ceilidh Scottish Fiddle Band; Chinese folk musicians Song Yu; Carib Sounds Jamaican steel drums; South American musicians Cantemos; Andrew Payzant on Scottish bagpipe; Hmong folk music and dance. Appalachian music, including David Neidig and Tom Smith, Early Bird Special, Knoxville Area Dulcimer Club, and Allen McBride on hammer dulcimer, will be in the Appalachia Heritage exhibit area of the museum.
Dance will be presented by Lucia’s Arte Y Pasion Flamenca Dance, East Tennessee Chinese School Dancers, Sandy Larson’s Sandsation Egyptian Dancers; Tenpenny Rapper Sword Dancers, Spice of India Dancers, classical and folk Indian dancers with Sathiya Paranthaman, and the Greek Dancers of St. George Greek Orthodox Church. Bob Grimac will lead festival goers in Chinese ribbon dancing to end the festival.
The Knoxville Area Model Railroaders will operate model trains at the World of Trains exhibit during the festival, and the  Train Garden will be open, weather permitting.
Food booths with offerings from Belgium, Bolivia, China, Greece, India, Japan, Jordan, Norway, Poland and Ukraine, among others, will be open. Cultural booths with information, crafts, activities and items for sale will include regions and countries of Appalachia, Belgium, Bolivia, China, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Ukraine, Vietnam and West Africa.
The International Festival is funded under an agreement with the Tennessee Arts Commission. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, the Oak Ridge Police Department, and The Oak Ridger are supporting the event.
Admission to the International Festival is $12 for adults, $11 for seniors, $10 for children 3-18 and $1 off each category for museum members. For more information, call Carroll Welch at the Children’s Museum at (865) 482-1074, ext. 105, or see the Children’s Museum web site at www.childrensmuseumofoakridge.org.
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