By Kat Craine —

Worldfest is an annual event that takes place on Labor Day weekend in downtown Louisville to honor and celebrate the diverse cultures in Louisville.

The festival is filled with sounds and delectable smells from all corners of the world, inviting patrons to connect with vendors and other festivalgoers.

Both sides of 5th St were transformed into a kaleidoscope of color and texture, offering beautiful crafts and clothing from various countries.

A vendor from Ghana named Nema sold fans, clothing and jewelry with distinct earth tone patterns. He said he attends Worldfest to share cultural pieces from North Africa with the people of Louisville.

When asked what he would like the community of Louisville to know about his home culture, he said “It would depend on the person.”

Nema said since Africa is a continent, not a country, even a specific region of an African country is home to a plethora of different cultures.

Apart from vendors selling clothing, jewelry and food, Worldfest hosted a tent with volunteers from the We Care Foundation. Their mission is to provide aid to those in need, locally and internationally.

This foundation hosts food buffets for homeless people and does fund-raising for their country of heritage, Bangladesh, where they provide citizens aid ranging from  educational supplies to cataract surgeries.

Worldfest serves as an example of the rest of the world to come together, learn from each other, and immerse ourselves in another person’s world.

Photo by Joseph Garcia / The Louisville Cardinal