Held once a year at Irvine’s Great Park, the Irvine Global Village Festival offers a combination of kid-friendly activities, art, shopping, and food vendors to celebrate the city’s multicultural community. From Indonesian and Philippine Consulates to Azerbaijani, Chinese, Indian, Iraqi, Israeli, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Mexican, Mongolian, Pakistani, Palestinian, Sudanese, Syrian, Taiwanese, Tamil, and Turkish booths, representation of Asian and Middle Eastern cultures is off the charts, with decidedly fewer African, European, or South American groups – Bulgaria and Hungary excepted. Booths feature traditional dancing, crafts, and plastic food replicas; North American and Asian vendors dominate the actually edible food options, though an international collection of beers (sample-ready in flights) includes some European nods.
Most recently held on an October Saturday from 10am to 6pm, the Irvine Global Village Festival is free to attend. Free parking is available at the Great Park’s many parking lots, with free shuttle service to and from the event’s grounds from lots 4 and 5.
