Multicultural event hosted to fundraise and spread awareness of the ACA's work
9/2/21 by Marty Dolan
Photo by Michael Golann
This past Saturday, the American Civic Association (ACA) held its 17th-Annual Multi-Ethnic Garlic Festival at its Front Street location in Binghamton. The festival, which lasted the whole afternoon, featured several local farms and restaurants coming together to provide a variety of foods, tied together by the use of garlic.
Mayra Garcia, the executive director of the American Civic Association, said her organization has used the Annual Multi-Ethnic Garlic Festival to fundraise and spread awareness of the issues they’ve worked toward bettering every day for almost 20 years.
“The Garlic Festival is a multicultural event that we do every year,” Garcia said. “It’s one of our biggest fundraising programs. The money we collect from the Garlic Festival is going to help to continue the mission we have here to help the community.”
The American Civic Association, in addition to hosting festivals and gatherings such as the Annual Multi-Ethnic Garlic Festival throughout the year, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping immigrant and refugee populations in the Binghamton area. Garcia said the funds raised go to help support the organization’s mission of helping these populations get the assistance and support they need.
“It could be immigrant, it could be jobs, it could be case management,” Garcia said. “It could just be helping them get familiar with the area … That’s what we’re here for, to get these immigrant and refugee groups settled in the area.”
This type of work has led to the American Civic Association to build strong relationships throughout the whole Binghamton community. According to Garcia, These connections have proven to be fruitful when it comes time to find invaluable vendors and donors for their many events.
“It takes a lot of work to plan the Garlic Festival every year,” Garcia said. “So we do have restaurants in the community that provide the food. The main foods [we make ourselves] are haluski, pierogies and things of that nature … The rest of the food is from local restaurants that want to be a part of our community, some from as far away as Syracuse … They all want to help out and give back to the community.”
At this year’s Garlic Festival, visitors could recognize many familiar faces from the area’s many ethnic restaurants and small farms. Products available ranged from traditional produce to special garlic-themed products and dishes, such as handwoven garlic braids, with more interesting creations like the notorious garlic ice cream — the festival’s claim to fame.
For Garcia, the reputation of items like garlic ice cream is part of the reason she looks forward to the Annual Multi-Ethnic Garlic Festival each year.
“We are the only ones that make this type of garlic ice cream,” Garcia said. “Each year we contact a new ice cream business, and they’re the ones that come in and make the garlic ice cream for us to sell … It’s only once a year that you’ll be able to get ahold of this garlic ice cream. Only at the [American Civic Association’s] Garlic Festival.”
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