India named as host country for Ethnic Expo

Kiran Ahluwalia; Photo courtesy of Swathi Reddy

India will be the host country for this year’s Ethnic Expo, the city of Columbus announced today. This year’s festival is Oct. 11 and 12th in the streets around Columbus City Hall.

The Indian Association of Columbus will represent the host country, there will be a corner of the festival set aside for the country at the corner of First and Washington streets and the country will be represented as the lead float in the Ethnic Expo parade that weekend.

Instructors from the Columbus yoga community will lead a children’s and adult’s yoga class Friday evening. Bollywood Unlimited will teach an energetic Bollywood dance class Saturday afternoon.

The Friday night headliner will be Kiran Ahluwalia, who represents the vocal traditions of India and Pakistan. Ahluwalia has won two JUNO Awards (Canada’s Grammys), two Canadian Folk Music Awards, and a Songlines Award in the U.K.

Saturday night’s headliner will be The Tiptonians, a Columbus-based pop/alt rock style band that won the 2015 Columbus Got Talent competition.

Ethnic Expo is from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. both days. The deadline to apply to participate as a vendor for the International Food and Bazaar is Aug. 31. You can get more information at www.ethnicexpo.org.

Ethnic Expo is organized by the City of Columbus and First Financial Bank is the main sponsor for the tenth year in a row. Other sponsors include Coca-Cola, ERMCO Electric and Milestone Contractors.