The Guelph and District Multicultural Festival celebrates its 30th year with a bang this weekend.
One of the annual "to-do" events of the summer for many people in Guelph, the festival has added a fireworks display to this year's festivities, which run June 10 to June 12 at Riverside Park.
"It's been 30 years, so we wanted to do something a little special," said festival president Delfino Callegari of the fireworks.
They take place Saturday night as soon as it goes dark.
The festival standards are all back this year, ranging from the popular food tent (which has added a vendor who will roast a pig on a spit), the children's activity tent, the youth tent and cultural performances on the stage all three days.
"People of Guelph love this event. It's a place where people from everywhere can come together and embrace one another," Callegari said.
The festival was held in downtown Guelph for the first few years and attracted just a few hundred people. It has steadily grown and Callegari said now there are roughly 23,000 to 24,000 people attending the event over the course of the weekend.
The weather forecast is for warm temperatures throughout the weekend with some possible thunder showers later in the day on Saturday.
Callegari said weather is never an issue, recalling one year when attendance was fine even though a hail storm left the ground covered in white golf ball-sized hail.
""It's a family event, it's free and it's fun. Rain or shine, people will be here," Callegari said. "We've got food, we've got beer, we've got entertainment."
The festival kicks off with the opening ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday and runs until roughly 6 p.m. Sunday.
More information can be found on the festival web site at www.gdmf.ca.
