International Village volunteers keep traditions alive

By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com
For many of its attendees, International Village is simply a food, dance and music festival.
But for many others, especially those who volunteer to man the food booths and dress up in garb from their ancestral homelands for live performances, International Village provides a chance to pay homage to their immigrant progenitors.
They use the Village to remember those who came to America, and in many cases right to McKeesport, to create a new, and hopefully, better life than they and their families had in their native countries.
The Village’s volunteers also realize how important bringing their traditions across the land and sea was to those who immigrated to America when McKeesport and steel towns like it were bustling.
Because of that awareness, modern day International Village volunteers are sure to keep that spirit of tradition alive.
A common site at the Village is seeing groups of young people donning aprons, alongside their parents, grandparents and church elders, cooking and serving food at the various booths that represent the cuisine of more than 20 nations.
Those grandparents, parents and elders have been coming to the Village to celebrate their own heritage— and those of their neighbors – for decades.
At the Croatian, Turkish and Mexican booths, teens and pre-teens helped prepare and serve food.
Zoe Painter, 13, has been helping serve food at the Rankin Junior Tamburitzans Croatian booth for the past few years, and has performed with the dance troop for the past nine years.
“We learn a lot from the adults about our culture through dancing and costumes,” she said. “We also learn a lot by cooking the food that we serve at International Village.”

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