Marshfield Cultural Fair aims to educate about area’s ethnic diversity

MARSHFIELD, Wis. (WSAW) - You might not know much about some parts of north central Wisconsin’s culture, but the ‘Marshfield Cultural Fair aims to change that. People came from all over to check out the event held at UW Stevens Point Marshfield campus on Saturday. There were presentations, lots of food, and live music. This fair has been going on for years.

“We have an exclusive excellent center, but it’s important for us to spread this to the next generation to make them understand the importance to understanding that we live in a very global society and diversity is a key to understanding others,” says Campus Executive Anthony Andrews.

Dr. Anthony Andrews says this fair is a Marshfield tradition and the main goal is to educate. There is something new for everyone to learn about, even the adult attendees.

For some, this fair has given them the opportunity to think bigger including learning to be more inclusive. “Bringing the community together, it really is because without doing this the community can fracture and we need to understand that everyone fits somewhere,” said Marsha Oberg.

UW Stevens Point Provost Vice Chancellor Dr. LaVonne Cornell-Swanson said Marshfield is much more than an agricultural town.

“There’s an integration of a variety of people in all of those communities. They’re not as static culturally as maybe people think and part of the reason is because we have businesses bringing diverse community members, diverse employees,” said Dr. Cornell-Swanson.

One thing new to the fair this year is the making of robots at a new technology center at the Marshfield campus. Money donated from this event will go to next year’s cultural fair.

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