‘Celebration of Nations Across Generations’: International Festival Makes Its Return

By Justin Story

Organizers are gearing up for the latest annual Bowling Green International Festival, planning a plethora of events that have made the festival a regionally and globally acclaimed celebration in which joy transcends barriers of language and geography.

Since its establishment in 1989 as a Memorial Day gathering in Fountain Square Park, the festival has flourished to become arguably downtown's signature event, held over the course of a week at multiple sites.

Promotional materials for this year’s festival tout it as a “Celebration of nations across generations.”

With Riverfront Park at his disposal, along with Circus Square and Fountain Square parks and buy-in from diverse sponsors, festival director Fabrice Mouanga has taken big swings in his near-decade heading the festival, bringing in internationally touring world music acts to headline the weekend portion of the schedule in recent years.

“This was one of my favorite things to come to when I was a kid,“ said Mouanga, who grew up in Bowling Green the son of Congolese refugee parents. 

During Mouanga's youth, the international festival was a late-September downtown staple, with Circus Square Park virtually bursting at the seams with vendors, artists and visitors sharing in their cultural experiences representing dozens of nations.

Mouanga recalled being fascinated by the sights, sounds and smells, a colorful melange that he said spoke to his family's need for a happy respite from the emotional baggage they carried from growing up in impoverished circumstances in a war-torn country.

“I liked knowing there was an event to bring so many people together to celebrate for at least one day to forget about all their struggle and the pain they saw back home,” Mouanga said. “Seeing my friends and family happy together, meeting other cultures, it's beautiful.”

The growth of Bowling Green at large and its international community in particular since Mouanga's childhood has elevated the international festival as a touchstone, necessitating its growth beyond a one-day celebration at Circus Square.

Festival organizers have met the challenge, doing cross-promotions that have included a one-night takeover by an Argentinean chef at downtown restaurant 440 Main and interactive performances at The Capitol by a Burmese dance troupe, as well as reimagining the festival's central hub of Circus Square Park as a street fair inspired by Rio's Carnival.

Unified Government officials have long recognized the reach the festival has had in terms of attracting tourists, and as the celebration has grown so have amenities, including the expansion of trolley service during festival weekends and the opening of more scooter stations for visitors to more easily travel among the festival's many sites.

“It's crucial to build a downtown that appeals to and retains people and the International Festival board has done the utmost to create an event that celebrates our community's diversity and establish Bowling Green as a destination city,” said VisitBGKY Executive Director Ana Ricote-Charles. 

Mouanga said he is gratified to witness the festival become an event where multiple generations of families, whether they are performers or visitors, have formed lasting memories.

In the years he has been attending the festival and later overseeing it, Mouanga has seen it weather not just rainy days, but broader political sentiment regarding immigration that seems to vacillate between two poles depending on who controls Congress and the White House.

“I tell people that this is a safe zone for you, whatever your background, whatever your color, wherever you're from; we celebrate you as a person, and Bowling Green loves the heck out of you,” Mouanga said.