20 years of celebrating diversity at Spring Free From Racism

A celebration of Regina’s diversity hit a big milestone this past weekend at the Italian Club.

Twenty years ago, Barb Dedi started Spring Free from Racism as a smaller version of the Mosaic festival with free admission. The annual event includes all-day entertainment, food vendors and wares from all over the world.

The day is also held to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21.

“It’s fantastic because when I started it, I didn’t know how many years we’d be going. It’s just grown and grown every year,” Dedi said.

Dedi, also president of the Saskatchewan Association on Human Rights, said getting people to mingle is a good way to promote tolerance.

“When you’re all in the same room together and you’re all looking at each other’s culture … in a social situation, it really spreads the word,” she said. “Because we know racism is not something that you’re born with. It’s something that’s learned. We like to have the younger children come out and dance and they also get an opportunity to play together.”

She said there was a time when vendors would ask that their booths be placed away from somebody else’s because of where they were from. Dedi would put them together anyway and said they eventually became friends.

Relationships like those are what Dedi has found the most rewarding about organizing the event each year.

“I have grown to meet so many people over the years. So many different cultures and we have really developed friendships.”