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Bryan's Worldfest celebration may have made Nyasha Manyame miss home, but she said it gave her and her two young children the chance to experience a little more culture than they are used to lately.
"It kind of gives a feel for what we are missing," said Manyame, who moved to College Station from Zimbabwe six years ago so her husband could attend Texas A&M University. "It's refreshing."
Highlighting cultures from around the world, the second annual Worldfest spread throughout downtown Bryan on Saturday nearly doubled in size over last year, according to Kim Fox, who coordinated the festival.
More than 5,000 people walked along Main and Bryan streets as music and food from various cultures flooded the senses.
Manyame's son, 9-year-old Comfart, said he liked each booth he had seen.
"They are all fun," he said, adding that he couldn't pick a favorite.
Dressed in a traditional Indonesian bridal dress, Vera Carolina posed with various people for pictures. The 25-year-old Aggie said she participated in a booth with the TAMU Indonesian Student Association because she wanted to share something she loved.
"We need to present our culture to the world," said Carolina, who moved from Indonesia to College Station four years ago. "We are proud of our culture."
She wasn't the only one who proved that sharing a culture was important.
People from more than 120 countries showed up out of the 127 different countries represented within Texas A&M University's more than 46,000-student population. Nearly 60 groups sponsored interactive cultural displays, including many from A&M and others from area organizations.
"It's just being able to see so many people form the community coming together and sharing their culture and enjoying it," Fox said. "It's been very rewarding."
Fox said one of the goals was to not only increase the number of events, but to give people the chance to both have fun and learn something.
She said she hopes next year organizers are able to continue to expand the event, drawing larger crowds and booths from even more parts of the world. For Fox, though, the best part was just being able to see people enjoying themselves.
"You can see it on their faces that they're enjoying it and maybe without even realizing it, they are learning something along the way," Fox said.
