Thousands of residents and out-of-town visitors alike immersed themselves in a variety of cultural traditions during the 51st annual Brantford International Villages Festival, which ran from Wednesday, July 2 to Saturday, July 5, 2025.
A cornerstone in the community since 1974, the four-day festival is known for instilling the community with excitement, awareness, education and cultural pride.
During this year’s big event, attendees had the chance to visit the 15 villages peppered throughout the city including the: Chinese, East Coast Canada, Hungarian, India, Italian, Muslim, New York, Palestinian, Philippine, Polish Polonaise, Polish Warszawa, Scottish, Ukrainian, United Africa and the Great Indian villages.
For $10, travelers were issued a passport that gave them access to all 15 villages as well as free bus transportation with three different routes.
While many people spent Wednesday and Thursday exploring the 11 open villages, the weekend brought even more excitement as the Polish Warszawa, Palestinian, East Coast Canada, and Scottish villages welcomed guests with lively entertainment, unique cuisines and beverages, and cultural displays.
Over at this year’s newest venue, the Great Indian Village, attendees had the opportunity to indulge in flavourful food from both Rangoli Brantford and the Hakka Hut.
The village also featured classical, folk and instrumental music, fashion shows, cultural dances, henna artists, craft and Bollywood Zumba.
“India is so big and diverse,” said Rajesh Prasad, Village Chairperson. “With the amount of languages that we have and the amount of festivals we celebrate, we felt that there was space for another village to showcase our culture, our diversity, our ethnicity, our wares, and our approach to life. It’s not necessarily a different village, it’s another village where we get to show people more about India as a whole; from north to south to east to west.”
Sumedha Mongia, the village’s entertainment coordinator, said that considering it was their first year, they were happy with the turnout.
“We’ve gotten really good feedback about how things have been conducted and the kind of experience they have gotten so far,” she said. “We are also learning and building things up, so hopefully it will just get bigger and better from here.”
For Brantford residents, Justin Thibideau, Katie Simpson, Alisha Coneen, and Josh Imola, it was all their first time making their way around the villages, and the four collectively agreed that their personal favourite part was the food.
“It’s the food for me, 100 per cent,” said Imola.
“Getting to try something you’ve never had before has been a fun experience,” added Simpson.
While they were hesitant to pick favourites, especially because they were hoping to experience a few more on the final night, Simpson and Thibideau ranked the Polish Polonaise village as their top pick.
“This is admittedly, our third time back,” said Thibideau with a laugh. “You can’t beat the food.”
“The Italian one was also really good, and so was the Great Indian village,” said Simpson. “I liked that they really had a little bit of everything food wise, and they were also really good at getting everyone up and dancing.”
Shari Biro, the new President of the Brantford International Villages, said the best part about the four-day festival comes down to how it celebrates the diversity of the Brantford-Brant community.
“This festival is all about learning about other cultures,” she said. “You don’t know what you don’t know, and so by going to a village you get the chance to understand someone’s culture, their food and their entertainment, a bit better. There’s also so many newcomers to the area and so it’s also a great opportunity for them to see the people and the cultures that make up our city.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
