Bask in Cleveland’s Cultural Diversity at One World Day

Photo by Anastasia Pantsios

Sun 8/27 @ 11AM

There’s no better time to bask in the riot of cultures that make up northeast Ohio’s population than on One World Day, celebrating every year at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens in Rockefeller Park.

The gardens’ history goes back to 1916 when the Shakespeare Garden — now the British Garden — was created. In the 1930s a lot of new gardens were built, many created by immigrants from eastern Europe (Czech, Hungarian. Slovak, Polish, Ukrainian) and the gardens have been celebrating One World Day since 1946.

For many years the gardens didn’t increase in number much but there’s been an explosion of new ones in the last 20 years — and they’re starting to encompass a larger part of the world. While the Chinese Garden, created in 1985, was the first (and for a long time only) non-European garden, it’s been joined in recent years by the Vietnamese, Indian, Syrian and Ethiopian gardens. Drivers, cyclists and strollers down MLK Boulevard have undoubtedly noticed the latest garden to be completed, the Pakistani Garden across from the Irish Garden (1939). A Colombian Garden space has been established and planted, and Korean, Mexican, Egyptian, Peruvian, Scottish, French, Native American and Uzbekistani gardens are in the pipeline.

In the face of waves of demonization of immigrants, including recent attempts to depict Spanish-speaking refugees at the southern border as a dangerous horde, the cultural gardens have been a focal point for emphasizing their contributions.

So its 77th One World Day will be honoring the cultures no one dreamed back then would have a foothold in Cleveland, along with those that helped build the city back in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The Parade of Flags offer the chance to see all the cultures — and some that don’t even have gardens yet, such as Haiti, Iran, Brazil, Jordan, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Morocco and Switzerland — in their traditional garb, playing their native instruments and doing dances. This year’s grand marshall is county executive Chris Ronayne. It follows traditional opening naturalization ceremony, taking place at 11 am at the Centennial Peace Plaza, which was dedicated in 2020.

After the parade, walk down MLK Drive (which will be closed to traffic) to visit the various gardens, which will be hosting performances, information and displays and sales of traditional arts, as well as a variety of ethnic foods for sale. There’ll be a children’s village with family activities (the popular Gaelic Glen Alpacas will be there!) three (!) beer gardens for the adults, and lots of information booths from local businesses, organizations and social service agencies. The event is free; find free parking at the marina at the north end of MLK. There will be free buses and golf carts circling the street for people needing assistance, such as you 88-year-old grandma wanting to revisit the sights, sounds and tastes of “the Old Country.”

clevelandoneworldday.org/2023/

Cleveland, OH 44108

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