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Middfest festivities kick off

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By Rick McCrabb and Richard Wilson, Staff Writers 11:17 PM Friday, September 30, 2011

MIDDLETOWN — The stage was set, the food was served and 2-year-old Sadie was walking about enjoying a day out with the crowd at Middfest International.

“We thought we’d bring the little one out. It’s her first one,” said Sadie’s mother, Angela Sebald as she and her husband Chad sat waiting for the opening ceremonies.

Sadie represented the third generation of two native Middletown families who remember attending Middfest in the early 1980s. Sadie’s grandparents, David and Katrina Wenger, said they had just moved back to town from Michigan and were looking forward to seeing old friends.

“We always run into somebody we haven’t seen in years,” David said. “Nobody looks the same anymore.”

Middfest weeklong festivities this year highlights Peru and celebrates diversity and culture through song and dance performances, ethnic foods, crafts and children’s events.

The centerpiece is showcased inside at One Donham Plaza – Machu Picchu: The Lost City Uncovered. The exhibit features photographs (circa 1911 to 1945) from Hiram Bingham, one of the first westerners to explore the ancient holy city of the Incas.

Doug Comer, co-president of the Archeological Heritage Management Committee from Baltimore, was on hand to share his expertise about the World Heritage Site as one of the “most remarkable and outstanding cultural sites in the world.”

Paul Carhuatanta couldn’t be happier for the opportunity to share his Peruvian culture with Ohioans. Carhuatanta - who was born in Lima, Peru but grew up and resides in Cincinnati - got the crowd revved up as the emcee Friday evening and sang the Peruvian national anthem A cappella.

Carhuatanta is part of the traditional Peruvian dance group Embajadores Peruanos, which will be performing in traditional costume tonight and Sunday evening.

“Middfest is a beacon of light in Middletown because it promotes diversity and sometimes we’re lacking that,” he said. It brings all cultures together.”

Luis Chang Boldrini, head of public diplomacy for the Embassy of Peru in Washington, D.C., was the keynote speaker Friday afternoon at the Middfest International Foundation Ambassador’s Lunch at Wingate by Wyndham in West Chester Twp.

He said Peru’s new government hopes to improve “social inclusion” by eliminating poverty and providing tools to residents to make themselves self-sufficient; improve “public safety” while reducing drug trafficking; and “promoting private investments.”

He said there are 29.5 million people living in Peru, which is smaller than Alaska. Almost 7 percent of its residents are unemployed, and 31.3 percent — down from 54 percent — are living at or below poverty levels.

He described Peru’s economy as the “fastest growing” in the world, and said “we are doing very, very well.”

Peru’s public debt, he said, is steadily falling and there’s an “open trade and market.”

Tourism, he said, is a major business in Peru. For every seven tourists — there were 2.9 million last year — seven jobs are added, he said.

He said Peru is home to one of the “richest seas in the world,” one that produces 900 million tons of fish annually. As he said to the laughing audience: “That’s lots of fish.”

After meeting people associated with Middfest, he said: “We have many friends now.”

And that, organizers have said, is one of the goals of Middfest.

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