On a hot Friday morning before the 46th Ethnic Enrichment Festival, Samantha Salem and a team of volunteers are busy setting up a booth in Swope Park. Palestinian flags are set on both sides of a tent, flapping in the summer breeze. In the middle is a banner reading, “Welcome to Palestine.”
This year marks the very first time Palestine is represented at Kansas City’s Ethnic Enrichment Festival, which runs from Friday evening to Sunday.
“We love community, we love connection, and we love support,” says Salem, who is the festival’s commissioner for Palestine. “We're just very excited to be able to have this opportunity to share that with everyone, especially since this is a place that embraces diversity.”
The annual festival offers a weekend celebrating the many cultures, cuisines and countries that have a presence in the metro area. Dozens of nations will be represented and, in addition to Palestine, Hong Kong, Tahiti and Sudan will also be appearing for the first time.
Salem says the Palestinian community in Kansas City is deeply rooted and strong.
“We just want to be here,” Salem said. “We just want to exist. We just want to live in peace.”
The festival is organized by Kansas City’s Ethnic Enrichment Commission. Through partnerships with local nonprofits and community groups, the commission has grown to represent over 70 countries.
“Kansas City is a very vibrant city,” says Andrea Smith, chairperson of the Ethnic Enrichment Commission. “I tell the people, ‘You can find the whole world in Kansas City — and this weekend, you can find it at Swope Park.’
Smith says this year’s festival is particularly significant given the current political climate and President Donald Trump’s attacks on immigrants.
“I think this is a very important reminder that we are who we are today because of the communities that have come here and settled in Kansas City,” Smith says.
In addition to cuisine from around the world, there will be performances throughout the weekend highlighting different countries. Jim Wilson, vice chair of the commission, says the festival is also a chance for people in Kansas City to meet other locals who share their culture.
“Sometimes the immigrants that come here maybe don't know where to buy that certain ingredient to make something,” Wilson says. “And by getting their community stronger, it makes the whole Kansas City area stronger.”
Wilson said his wife, who is Indonesian, was one example. She became a commissioner representing Indonesia at the festival, and was prompted to create a community group for Indonesians in the metro because so many local Indonesian residents stopped by the booth.
‘Keep our story on the table’
Bringing Palestine to the Ethnic Enrichment Festival was about two and a half years in the making. Salem says she was approached at that time about spearheading a Palestinian commission and bringing Palestine to the festival. But it can be a hefty commitment, as the event is entirely volunteer-run and takes nearly a year to put together.
In the lead up to this year’s event, Salem says she was happy to take on the task of representing Palestine and bringing her culture to the Ethnic Enrichment Festival.
“Sharing the culture and the cuisine and the traditions that we are desperately trying to keep moving and keep pushing and keep representing,” says Salem. “Trying to fight against the erasure of our existence with the genocide and the ethnic cleansing and the mass, forced starvation that's happening right now.”
Palestine’s first appearance is particularly significant to Salem because of the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, where she lived from 1996 to 2006 before moving to Kansas City. Salem says her childhood home is now gone, and she’s lost family members to Israel’s attacks over the past two years.
“We need to keep our story on the table,” she says. “It's our piece of resilience and resistance here in the diaspora, and especially in the United States.”
Festival attendees who visit the booth will get a taste of Palestinian cuisine, including hummus, baba ghanoush, olive oil, and lemonade from Palestinian eatery Baba’s Pantry. Salem and her team will also offer musakhan, the national dish of Palestine that includes caramelized onions, bread and chicken with sumac. Merchandise will include kuffiyeh-printed bandanas and a zibdiya, a traditional clay mortar and pestle.
“I think food is a love language, but it's not just a dish, it's not just a recipe,” Salem says. “It's history for us, it's memory, it's identity, it's nostalgia. And I believe it's best told by the people who lived it.”
Running the booth this weekend is also a chance for Salem and the team of volunteers to give back to the city that welcomed them.
“When you taste Palestinian food from Palestinian hands, you're getting the real, authentic story,” she said. “You're getting the feelings of the people that are serving you the food, and all of that love that's been passed down through all these generations in our blood.”
