Scorching weather couldn’t keep people away from the 45th annual Belleville Waterfront and Multicultural Festival from Thursday to Sunday.
Residents braved the heat and humidity and swarmed West Zwick’s Park to partake in foods from around the world, prepared by members of the local community. Food from 12 different countries was being served, and performers of all sorts both wandered the festival grounds or took to the main stage to entertain.
Jill Raycroft, CEO of the Belleville Chamber of Commerce, said that between all the different entertainment and attractions, they had something for everyone.
“Our food vendors on Saturday were busy. The park was full of people both Friday night and Saturday. So that was awesome,” said Raycroft. “The weather kind of worked in our favour, cooled down a little bit yesterday.”
While previous years of the festival included a midway, this year the midway is being held separately.
Raycroft said that while they prefer to have the midway at the same time as the rest of the festival, sometimes it doesn’t quite work out that way.
“It has an impact on the number of people that park, but it doesn’t really doesn’t seem to have had as much of an impact on the people that come into the multicultural food village that seems to still be really positive, and kind of consistent with past years,” said Raycroft.
The midway is still coming to town, and will be open from July 13 to 16.
