The Multicultural Festival grew out of years of small potlucks hosted for ENL families at Sand Creek, when current DEI Coordinator, April Mlambi, first began teaching ENL a decade ago. These potlucks became so popular that many native English speaking students and teachers began approaching Mlambi wanting to attend and/or participate by sharing their cultural heritage as well.

Our first school-wide Multicultural Festival was held in 2017 in the Sand Creek cafeteria, and quickly grew out of that space moving into the gymnasium in 2018- which subsequently, became too small of a venue as well.  Each year more and more families and community members showed interest in participating in, and attending the event. The festival was then moved to the high school's multi-use gymnasium, opening it up to become a district-wide event in 2019. Since then, the Multicultural Festival has grown into a well-attended and beloved school community event.

The festival continues to evolve each year, with new culture booths, attractions, and performances being added. After the 2023 event, considering how large the festival had become, it was moved to an every other year rotation.

“It gives me so much joy to see our school community come together to celebrate our diversity. Our students are so excited to learn more about each other's cultures as well as continuing to explore their own,” says Mlambi. “I am grateful for the tremendous support that our district leadership has provided to help us continue to grow this event, as well as the many students and staff who volunteer their time and energy to plan and put on this event,” she adds. Be sure to join us for this year’s festival being held on April 4, 2025 at the Colonie Central High School MUG gymnasium, to be a part of Colonie’s culture of togetherness.