'Village' turnout hits new high

By Chris O'Connell

The bend of Alameda and Market Streets was transformed for six hours Sunday to showcase international food, dance and cuisine at this year's 10th annual Global Village.

Members of the Multicultural Center organized the event, which drew hundreds of people from Santa Clara and the surrounding community to the live performances and many booths that lined either side of the street. The stands represented the nine registered clubs in the MCC, other student organizations as well as several independent vendors. Each booth provided information, dished up tasty international snacks, served cool beverages or sold clothing and crafts.

"Global Village is an important event because it exposes the community to the different clubs and cultures at Santa Clara," senior Adrian Canales said. Canales manned the grill at Comunidad Latina, serving up carne asada tacos for $1 each.

In addition to eating or shopping, attendees could take in the multicultural music and dance performances, including those by Intandesh and Salsa Clara.

"As a performer, I hope to represent a small piece of the puzzle that makes up this university," Martin Rivas, a senior and member of Salsa Clara, said. Rivas said there is an impressive array of ethnicities at Santa Clara that sometimes is taken for granted.

"Global Village seems to remind me that I still have so much to learn about the many cultures here at Santa Clara," Rivas added. "It also proves to me that people from such a wide variety of backgrounds can come together in peace."

But organizing an event such as Global Village requires a considerable amount of preparation.

"As soon as we're elected, we begin planning Global Village," MCC Director Manuel Perez said. "It is the biggest annual MCC event."

This year's event required even more organization because it was the largest Global Village to date. According to Perez, the MCC director, assistant director, and executive board began brainstorming for the spring event as early as fall quarter.

Because Global Village was held off campus, Perez said in addition to working with the university, planners had to cooperate with Santa Clara City and County ordinances, as the street closure and sound permits had to be approved by the city.

Perez said holding the event on Market Street was a good idea because doing so increased publicity and stimulated more interaction with the off-campus community.

Perez said Global Village was a success because it helped build bridges with many other student organizations as well as open up lines of communication with groups that had never before worked with the MCC.

The budget for the event broke even, which Perez said has been a challenge in previous years.

MCC CSL Advisor Tam Nguyen said this year's celebration was the biggest and most successful at Santa Clara since Global Village premiered in 1995.

"This is the best Global Village I've seen," Nguyen said. "Everything was increased in scale; we had over 50 vendors and much more performances." Nguyen also said she was pleased to see the students of the MCC take the initiative to make the event a success.

Many said the larger size of the event made it more fun to attend.

"I went last year, but this year's event has a much more festive atmosphere," senior Chris Nelson said.

Senior Lauren Guardalabene said Global Village has a very important purpose.

"I've heard people say that Santa Clara is not diverse," Guardalabene said. "This event shows our diversity, but more importantly shares it. You can't really go wrong with great food either."

"Sharing of people, ideas and backgrounds is pertinent to any learning institution," MCC Assistant Director Citlali Vasquez-Ramos said.

û Contact Chris O'Connell at (408) 554-4546 or coconnell@scu.edu.