Work is underway to prepare for the Irmo International Festival. This is after the festival was cancelled the past two years due to COVID.
Culture, artwork and food are all things you can expect to see if you plan on attending the festival next month.
"We're interested in learning about our community here," volunteer organizer Mary Kennerly said. "Folks who've lived here for generations, how some of the places here got their names, what those families did when they first moved here and how that's evolved over time."
It gets the international title from the outgrowth of Columbia and the involvement of international groups.
"As it has grown out toward the Irmo area, we're naturally becoming a more diverse community and we have a lot of extremely talented families and children who live here, and we just want to make sure that we all are aware of who they are and what they're doing and how to appreciate the contributions they make," Kennerly said. "We're also working with East Point Academy in West Columbia. They're a Chinese immersion school. So they're sending an art exhibit, they're sending dancers and we've got some other community people who are going to provide entertainment."
About 300 locals came out for the event back in 2019 and Kennerly said they are expecting a similar crowd this year.
There's an art competition, local vendors and a community art project called Rangoli.
Rangoli is an Indian art form that involves placing biodegradable items on a ground design that everyone contributes to. This can include things like colored pasta, bark, leaves, beans, corn, birdseed and coffee grounds.
So far, the festival committee has passed the word out through flyers, talking to friends and local groups.
The festival takes place on April 24, 2022 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and it is completely free to the public.
Vendors must pay $75 to set up a stand, but non-profit vendors don't need to pay any fee.
Thanks to the new 10 acres the town just added to its community park, there will be extra parking space available to event-goers.