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77th Annual Cleveland One World Day - Record Attendance in 2023

Blog Date
Author(s)
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.
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Cleveland
Cleveland Cultural Gardens

August 27, 2023 - 77th Annual Cleveland One World Day
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I want to start off this blog post by first congratulating the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation leadership and the many volunteers who contributed their time and talent to make this year's One World Day a grand success! Not only did they break a record for the number of participants in the 2023 Parade of Flags, but the Northeast Ohio community came together to support their vision of "peace through mutual understanding" by having a record number of people attending on Sunday, August 27, 2023! Read the details in their press release:

I always have a great time at Cleveland's One World Day, and this year, the 77th Annual, I was fortunate that my wife and co-blogger, Julie, was available to join me in the fun! Looking at my past "Cleveland Cultural Gardens" blog posts, I see that it was ten years ago that I attended this Cleveland muti-cultural event for the first time. Wow, ten years ago! I am particularly impressed by the number of new gardens that continue to be created.

 

 

Announcing 77th Annual One World Day

Here is some of the pre-event information about the 2023 One World Day, along with the map and program booklet for the day. This information gives a great overview of all that happened -- so much going on that we certainly did not see even a small fraction of the activities -- and the program booklet gives also has a list of supporters that made the 77th annual event possible!

77th annual One World Day - August 27, 2023 11am - 6pm Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation

. . . May 5, 2023 #mlk #cultural #garden Join us on Sunday, August 27 for a day of gardens, education, cultural and performances at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens, hosted by the Federation and City of Cleveland. More info, visit https://clevelandoneworldday.org/2023/ #owd2023cle

The 77th annual One World Day will be held on August, 27, 2023!

One World Day has been an annual premiere event of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation since 1946. It is presented by Councilman Kevin Conwell, County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell, and Mayor Justin Bibb.

One World Day showcases diverse ethnic groups through music, dance, storytelling and much, much more.

On Sunday, August 27, 2023, from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, there were special activities happening on both the East Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard levels of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. Click on the following two images to view in a new browser window the official 77th Annual One World Day event map and program booklet:

Official 77th Annual One World Day event map
Open Image of Map in New Browser Window

 

77th Annual One World Day program booklet in new browser window.
Open 77th Annual One World Day Program Booklet
PDF file (53.9 MB) in New Browser Window

 

 

Parade of Flags

Be proud of your heritage and join the parade kick-off at noon (12pm). The parade begins in the Polish Cultural Garden, travels south, and down from Italian Cultural Garden and ends at the Croatian Cultural Garden by the Centennial Peace Plaza.

We are honored to have Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne as our Grand Marshal.

Current ethnic groups participating besides the gardens include:
* Club Dominicano de Cleveland
* Brazilians in Cleveland
* United Swiss Society of Cleveland
* North Ohio Iranian
* United Moroccan American Association of Cleveland Ohio (UMAACO)
* Charity Beyond Borders
* People from Kazakhstan

This year, I arrived early enough to get to the parade's starting location, and then walked along with the parade getting photos and videos. I then watched the parade at its ending point at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Centennial Peace Plaza. In particular, it was interesting to watch the parade from the vantage point of where it traveled from the upper level of the gardens to the lower level. I hope you enjoy my photos and videos I took of the parade:

I recommend viewing in full screen mode!

Dan Hanson, as the Marketing Chair for the event, created the following video featuring all the groups participating in the parade. The video description is worth reading, since it provides details about the parade. (I can be seen in the video a couple of times as I was taking photos/videos at the parade's ending point.) I found this video on Dan's ClevelandPeople.com website, and I recommend you visit this website for more "Celebrating Cleveland's Cultural Diversity" content.

Parade of Flags at 2023 Cleveland One World Day
Dan Hanson . . . Aug 28, 2023 CLEVELAND CULTURAL GARDENS CENTENNIAL PEACE PLAZA
A highlight of the 77th annual One World Day in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens was the Parade of Flags where about 1500 marchers from over 50 countries marched earing traditional costumes and carrying the flags of their heritage. In a sign of unity, the MCs for the Parade were from the 4 major TV stations in Cleveland: Danielle Wiggins from WKYC. Kelly Dobeck from WOIO. Nadeen Abusada from WEWS and Tino Bovenzi from Fox 8 TV. The Cleveland Police Color Guard led off the parade followed by students from the CMSD John F Kennedy High School ROTC carrying the One World Day banner. The Grand Marshall was Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne who walked with Cleveland Cultural gardens Federation President Dr. Wael Khoury. This is the order of the units in the Parade: Native American, British, Pakistani, Dominican, Estonian, Irish, Finnish, Greek, Mexican, Croatian, Czech, Italian, Slovenian, Ukrainian, Lebanese, Uzbek, Colombian, French, Albanian, Brazilian, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Swiss, Turkish, Serbian, Moroccan, Syrian, Korean, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Azerbaijani, Iranian, African-American, Filipino, Ethiopian, Bangladeshi, German, Indian, Scottish, Latvian, Chinese, Hungarian, Peruvian, Lithuanian, Armenian, Haitian, Slovak, Carpatho-Rusyn, Kazakh, Puerto Rican and Palestinian. More about One World Day at https://clevelandoneworldday.org/2023/. See photos and videos of One World Day 2023 in Cleveland at https://www.clevelandpeople.com/ #owd2023cle

 

 

77th Annual One World Day Activities

One World Day 2023 -- Peace Through Mutual Understanding
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There are so many activities for you to venture into during the 77th annual One World Day, from enjoying our main stage performances to engaging activities in the individual Gardens. Below are some highlights:
. . .
Naturalization Ceremony – 11 a.m. at the Centennial Peace Plaza
Parade of Flags – noon
Centennial Peace Plaza Stage Performances
Cultural Performances at the Gardens
Passport to Peace
Market Place
Children’s Village
Cultural Programs and Education

It is very impressive that this event has been around for so many years. It was great to learn about new gardens being developed to represent more countries from around the world!! Here is a video of my day at the event:

I recommend viewing in full screen mode!

I was fortunate to be able to talk during the event to Emanuel Wallace who is the staff photographer for Cleveland Scene. Be sure to see the photos he took during the event. Julie and I want to thank him for including us in his photos from from the day.

 

Related Blog Posts

Here are my past "Cleveland Cultural Gardens" blog posts that you might find interesting:

I am grateful to have been able to attend One World Day for these past 10 years, and I appreciate the leadership of the organizers for their work to continue and expand this great Cleveland tradition into the future!