Roots Aurora seeks Cultural Champions nominations

Roots Aurora, the annual festival of ethnic cultures, is seeking individuals to be honored as Cultural Champions at the Sept. 6 event.

Nominees should have demonstrated effectiveness in preserving the history and traditions of their ethnic group, passing them along to younger generations and sharing them with all people of every background, especially within the city of Aurora.

Examples of cultural preservation would include the teaching of language, the performance of music and dance, the development of culinary and artistic skills, and writing about ethnic traditions or history.

The festival, featuring food, entertainment and a youth talent show, will be held from 5-9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, at the Water Street Mall in downtown Aurora. The date coincides with First Fridays events downtown and is free.

Previous honorees are:

• African American: Anthony Stanford, William Bigham, Onwa Olieh and Ricky Rodgers

• France: Josette Smith

• Germany: Ed Schleining

• Greece: Eva and Michael Kontos and Penny Panayiota Deligiannis

• India: Krishna Bansal and Prakasam Tata

• Ireland: Dan Dolan

• Italy: Anthony J. Prisco and Guy Prisco

• Jewish: Marilyn Katz

• Luxembourg: James Michels, David Frieders, and the American Luxemburger Independent Club

• Mexico: Maria Lozano, Jesus Sanchez and Gonzalo Arroyo

• Panama: Rene Cruz

• Puerto Rico: Mirna Lopez-Freitag and Emilio Berrios

• Tejano - Arturo Velasquez and Alejandro Benavides

• Romania: Viola Moldovan

• All nations (research) - Michael Fichtel

More information about Roots Aurora and nomination guidelines are online at www.rootsaurora.org/cultural-champions-new.

Nominations can be emailed to aurorahistoricalsocietyevents@gmail.com, or mailed to the Aurora Historical Society, P.O. Box 905, Aurora, IL 60507. Nominations are due by Tuesday, Aug. 20.