Festival History

What started as a salute to the 100th anniversary of the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1974, has continued as a successful multi-cultural festival, now celebrating its 37th continuous year.

The International Villages Festival is a four-day event where various cultural clubs and organizations get together and share their culture. This includes cultural exhibits, continuous entertainment, and lots of beautiful food and drink.

The original villages that participated were the: Dutch, Ukrainia, Polish, and Hungarian villages. Over the years there have been many different villages participating including: Irish, New York/New York, Atlantic City Village, Trinidad and Tobago, Jewish, Canadian Pioneers; Armenian; Greek; and theme villages hosted by Brantford Drama Theatre and The Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts. Each village relies on the dedication and commitment of many volunteers to bring their event together.

Until 2002, the festival was sponsored and run by Immigration and Settlement. Since 2003, members of each cultural village came together to keep the festival alive. Once again, it takes dedicated volunteers to work together and keep this culturally significant and exciting festival going.

The goal of the festival is to enrich everyone with Brantford’s international culture. The festival attracts people from all ages and walks of life, as well as from all over Ontario.

As 2010 is the 37th annual celebration of the International Villages Festival, each village is taking extra steps to make this year the most exciting and eventful festival yet. Come out and enjoy a little of many cultures!

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