RESTON, VA – It is time to “Discover the World in Reston” as the annual Reston Multicultural Festival returns on September 25, 2021.

This signature Reston event honors our community’s diversity and brings to life the vision that Reston founder Robert E. Simon had for the unique Northern Virginia community.

The 2021 Reston Multicultural Festival will be held at Lake Anne Plaza from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Attendees should note the universal mask requirement for indoor aspects of the Festival schedule.

“We are thrilled to bring back this annual community tradition after a year in which COVID-19 prevented us from holding it,” said RCC Board Chair Beverly Cosham. “It’s been planned by RCC staff to assure the greatest possible level of patron safety and comfort with full implementation of all recommended public health guidelines for outdoor and indoor spaces.”

The Festival will open with a special Land Blessing Ceremony and Round Dance performance featuring Rose Powhatan of the Powhatan Museum of Indigenous Arts and Culture. To acknowledge the history of local geography prior to colonization, these blessing ceremonies provide context for understanding the forced displacement of native peoples that occurred before there was a United States of America. Powhatan, a noted Virginia storyteller, is a descendent of the Powhatan tribe, which was prevalent in Northern Virginia thousands of years before European settlers arrived. Rose Powhatan will be sharing stories on the Gallery Stage at 12:00 p.m.

The World Stage, Global Stage and the Gallery Stage will feature free, all-day entertainment schedules, showcasing traditions and cultures from Vietnam, China, India, the Caribbean and many more.

Festival performances include two National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellows, Reverend Paschall & Company and the Chuck Brown Band. Reverend Paschall & Company, a longtime Norfolk-based ensemble, keep alive the tradition of a cappella Tidewater gospel. Rev. Paschall & Company were 2012 NEA Heritage Fellows. The group will perform on the World Stage at 2:00 p.m. The Chuck Brown Band will play the Global Stage at 12:30 p.m. This Washington, DC, group plays DC’s signature Go-Go music, made popular by the late Chuck Brown, a 2005 NEA Heritage Fellow.

Please visit www.restoncommunitycenter.com/mcf to see the full schedule of performances, vendors and events.

New this year: FREE shuttle bus transportation to the Festival. RCC and Fairfax Connector will provide bus transportation from the Wiehle-Reston Station and 20 other stops along North Shore Drive and

Wiehle Avenue. The buses will run approximately every 30 minutes from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Visit our website to see the shuttle bus stop map.

Other highlights:

• Food at the Global Cafe, featuring local vendors with dishes from around the world.

• Crafts for purchase at the Global Market, where international cultures are represented in textiles, clothing, jewelry, housewares and more.

• Hands-on family creative fun at the Family Arts and Crafts Activity Area, where young visitors can make friendship bracelets, Egyptian Necklaces, Sugar Skulls, a Barrilete (craft from Guatemala), as well as engage in a community gardening project.

• More family fun with a Chinese yo-yo demonstration at the Activity Area and a free East Asian brush painting class in the RCC Lake Anne Art Studio.

Where:  Lake Anne Plaza, 1609-A Washington Plaza, Reston, VA 20190

When:   Saturday, September 25, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Parking: Free; Lake Anne Plaza upper and lower lots, on-street North Shore Drive, as well as at many locations where free shuttle bus service from 21 bus stops to the Festival.   

Reston Community Center presents the Reston Multicultural Festival; it is hosted by Lake Anne Plaza and with partnership support from Reston Association and a variety of Reston-based organizations and businesses.