COLUMBIA, S.C. — Hundreds of people filled the State Fairgrounds on Sunday to celebrate countries from all over the world under one roof.
"We have are a lot of diversity in Columbia and South Carolina but many of us don't realize so our goal is to bring people together so they can see the world cultures," Festival Volunteer Director Raj Aluri said.
The event returned full-scale after this year and featured musical performances and plates full of different foods.
Didier Mekongo, who was joined by his wife Karen and two kids, spoke about how significant this event is.
"It's very important for us to meet other people to connect and to learn about other cultures, that's what the world is about," he said.
His wife hopes people walk away from their country with knowledge.
Jay Matsuea was set up with his family representing Japan as they folded origami and taught visitors how to play classic Japanese games.
"There are many ways to play it, you can put it on the stick and on the cup," Matsuea said. "Back in the day in Japan, many, many kids used to play it. It's very classic."
Matsuea really hopes this inspires people to come out next year.
"Not only is the food great but you get to learn and have a lot of fun activities and history from every place," he said.
