Market Street goes international at Global Village
By Molly McGonigle
Clubs like United Middle East and Barkada teamed up to throw the biggest street fair of the year last Sunday: Global Village.
Hundreds of Santa Clara students and faculty joined neighborhood families for the Multicultural Center's event in the melting hot weather.
Anastasia Gandarilla, veteran Global Village coordinator, said, "The whole point of Global Village is to promote awareness of multiculturalism on campus and strengthen connections within the larger Santa Clara community."
Freshman Michael Mazzella was surprised by the crowd and diversity present at Global Village. "As a freshman at SCU, it's encouraging to realize that there is such a welcoming interest in the diverse cultures that compose the neighborhoods surrounding our school, but also an understanding of where our fellow Broncos come from," Mazzella said.
Global Village comes together through various booths of local artisans. In one section of the fair, a booth selling Venetian jewelry, masks and dishes stood next to an American Indian stand selling local, handmade crafts and turquoise earrings, which was next to a wild and larger-than-life man selling American Apparel T-shirts featuring images of President Obama.
Among the one-of-a-kind artisan stands were the enticing scents of foods from across the globe, but all available within walking distance. Everything from Korean barbecue to Mexican food to tri-tip grilled sandwiches were available to the many visitors that walked through the event. Each vendor boasted about the quality and tastiness of their food, making the question of what to eat a very hard one to answer.
Intermixed with these booths that highlighted the diversity available to Santa Clara students were performers from both student organizations as well as local music and dance groups. The first set was the Bay Area group OURS, composed of both men and women. Their energetic music ranged from current hit "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon to their own renditions, including a song called "Killer." Everyone walking through the center of Global Village couldn't help but stop, watch and dance a little to their fast-paced music and enjoy their excellent crowd engagement.
The creators of Global Village also included activities for little kids and the inner kid in all of us by providing a moon bounce, an obstacle course and a fish bowl game with the opportunity to win a free goldfish, among many other carnival games. Most of these activities were free, with the dunk tank costing a mere $1 for four chances to soak the lucky individual sitting on the seat over the water.
Gandarilla also explained the community-building aspect of Global Village for the MCC.
"It ended up that Global Village was really symbolic of how we've (the MCC community) developed as a team with the upper class' spirit and how we have pushed the younger leaders to their limit." And with all of the donations and money made from the event going directly to InnVision, a group which works to end homelessness in the Santa Clara community, Global Village's mission has been reaffirmed on our very own campus.
Contact Molly McGonigle at mmcgonigle@scu.edu.