The American Civic Association hosted its 20th-annual Garlic Festival this Sunday at the Ross Park Zoo. A nonprofit organization, the association’s mission is to help immigrants and refugees prosper in the community while preserving their cultural backgrounds and traditions.

The festival featured ethnic food and barbecue, music and cultural performances, a bounce house and garlic ice cream.

New York State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04 spoke at this year’s event to show support for the organization and acknowledge its impact on the Southern Tier.

“This is a great festival because they have a beautiful array of such culturally diverse foods that represent our communities from all over the country, outside of the U.S. and so much more,” Webb said. “Reaching 20 years as a milestone is very hard to achieve. So on behalf of myself and the New York State Senate and, of course, my New York State Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, we support initiatives like this because it brings the community together.”

Because garlic is common among many cultures’ cuisines, the festival symbolizes the importance of diversity and acceptance.

Francesca Bové MA ‘21, the association’s grants manager, described the festival as their biggest yearly fundraising event.

“The money that we raise at the Garlic Festival will get used as discretionary income for the rest of the year,” Bové said. “And that allows us to buy the things that we need for our refugee clients, who are just getting resettled, and to meet other client needs.”

This year’s festival featured 30 vendors that sold different garlic-related items, including kettle corn and hot sauces.

Joshua Osche, 46, of Binghamton, and a co-owner of Stars & Gardens Farms — a family-owned garlic growing business — has been vending at the festival since 2017.

“The festivals are getting more popular,” Osche said. “It’s done in other areas, like the Hudson Valley, like Saugerties, and it’s just a much bigger effort. It could be a much bigger effort in this area. I don’t think people realize how good it is in this climate.”

In total, Stars & Gardens Farms grows nine varieties of garlic and at this year’s festival, Osche offered five different types, including French Porcelain, Carpathian and Chesnok Red.

Laila Hernandez ‘13, MPA ‘18, the American Civic Association’s deputy director, emphasized the organization’s commitment to serving the community.

“We provide services to a plethora of ethnicities and cultures,” Hernandez said. “We acknowledge everyone’s culture, everyone’s tradition. We are the world in Binghamton.”

Other vendors at the festival included Together for Ukraine, who allowed attendees to learn about Ukrainian culture and receive a traditional Ukrainian flower crown. The organization was also fundraising for Okhmadtyt Hospital — Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, which was struck by Russian missiles in July.

Mary Neufeld, the association’s marketing and event coordinator, described the impact of hosting the Garlic Festival on their organization.

“One of our biggest challenges is to reach into the community and let them know what we do,” Neufeld said. “Events like this really open us up to the community, so that we can bring in a crowd that we might not otherwise bring in. And we can really tell them what we do and how we support the community.”