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Middfest chooses Botswana

The southern African country will be featured in October’s festivities.

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By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer Updated 1:27 AM Sunday, November 8, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — Middfest International is going back to Africa for the featured country in 2010.

Botswana, a land-locked country in Southern Africa, will be the focus of the three-day event next October.

The announcement was made Saturday night, Nov. 7, during the organization’s recognition dinner at the Manchester Inn & Conference Center.

Also during the event, highlights of the this year’s Middfest were revisited featuring Indonesia, including a film showing a dancer, fashion shows, food and educational displays.

Volunteers who received special recognition for their work in Middfest 2009 and well as past years were Nancy Clark and Michelle Piepgrass, science committee members; Lisa Wilson, a longtime volunteer who has worked behind the scenes on many committees, and Donna McDade, a cooking and quilt show committee member.

Middfest International is an annual three-day cultural event with dance, music and food from around the world, which has celebrated a different country each year since 1981.

Botswana is about the size of France, and is known for its diamonds, cattle, game parks and tourism, according to Middfest officials.

English is the official language, but Setswana is the national language, according to the Botswana Tourism Board. Its population is 1.6 million, as of a 1999 count, and its climate is semi-arid with a rainy season through the summer months, which runs from November through March.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.

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Good idea, Mr. Lewis! It deserves serious consideration for several reasons, and would probably draw great interest.

It would likely make it easier to find volunteers, too.

Mike_Presta
5:23 PM, 11/8/2009

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MidFest needs to change it's themes and highlight America or all parts of American culture. I would like to see a multi- cultural
festival featuring Appalachian, African- American, Hispanic, Irish, German, etc. We are from all these cultures and more. That's what makes this Country great! Just an idea that should be dicussed.

Tim Lewis
11:12 AM, 11/8/2009

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Please spend some money on something that might intrest the poeple who live here. A fest is sometime we can enjoy and have a goodtime. Lets face it we are not hob nobbibg with heads of state. lets salute our local heritage. Who knows we might even get a little more intrest in the event If relates to the people and not just a slect few

average guy
11:11 AM, 11/8/2009

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Midfest used to be a lot of fun and I understand them wanting to highlight some of the lesser known countries but Botswana? Snore...

How about a switch from countries to states? 50 fabulous choices and we could learn something that actually may help and improve our own country. I've been to 30 states and each one is different than the next.

Boring
9:47 AM, 11/8/2009

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ill be sure to miss this one!!!

oooboy
8:17 AM, 11/8/2009

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