Cowichan Valley residents are being urged to wear cultural and traditional clothing and bring flags, signs and banners to join the seventh annual Walk of the Nations.
It's a good idea to start arriving at 9:30 a.m. for the 10 a.m. start of the big parade, which marshalls outside Vancouver Island University and will make its way to Centennial
Park on Saturday, May 31. The festivities at the park will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and include the cooking of fresh pizza by members of Cowichan Community Kitchens at Centennial Park's cob oven.
Organizers are also promising fry bread and other yummy food as well plus a variety of cultural entertainment including Celtic music, traditional drumming and dancing and cultural activity booths on the site.
This event started in the fall of 2008 as a multi-cultural legacy of the North American Indigenous Games, which were held in Duncan that summer, and since then it has grown to embrace many Valley groups in a special celebration of the area's diversity.
As organizers say, "Sometimes different roads lead to the same place. Let's take this walk together."