Griffith's Multicultural Festival attracts thousands to Memorial Park

Thousands made their way to the park through the day to see traditional dances, sample some unique cuisine and make new connections.

The event was unticketed, but Multicultural Council of Griffith president Carmel La Rocca said the park was full for the day as people came and went.

"It was awesome to see so many diverse cultures come to Griffith, there was great social cohesion, and everyone participated," she said.

Mrs La Rocca said the strength, and the success of the festival wasn't just down to the Multicultural Council's committee, but the ethnic communities which share their culture with Griffith on the day.

"It's great to see people come together and having a good time and experiencing the diversity that we have here in Griffith," she said.

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Attending for the first time was a Bulgarian folk dancing group from Melbourne.

Wearing their traditional clothing, nosiya, which is made to be unique for each person who wears it, they performed four traditional dances.

"It's really great to see so many people out and about," Tsvetina Arabajieva said. On the weekend Ms Arabajieva stepped in to act as choreographer, a role her mum Sonya normally does.

Ms Arabajieva said they were interested in returning for next year's festival.

Also attending the event for the first time was NSW Minister for Multiculturalism Mark Coure.

"This is a wonderful example to the community, just how multicultural Griffith is. One in four people come from a multicultural background," he said.

"Our greatest asset is our people, we've got people from all corners of the globe and you can see it here today at Griffith."

Mr Coure said Griffith's festival was being supported with $14,000 from the Stronger Together community grant program.

"This is a wonderful event on the calendar for the people of Griffith," Mr Coure said.

Asked as to how the state government planned on supporting the region's multicultural communities, Mr Coure said a pilot program, GROW - Growing Regions of Welcome was running.

The program was first launched in Leeton, Walla Walla and Wagga, but would also benefit Griffith.

"This encourages newly arrived migrants to settle in the regions, to create job opportunities for them ... to help them with further education and training and work placement," he said.

"This is about building our regions and ensuring our regions grow as much as our metropolitan suburbs grow as well."

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