Two policemen standing next to traffic cones blocked off Grace Street on Saturday for fire throwers, ethnic dancers, musical bands, a cotton candy stand and children with brightly painted faces.
The School of World Studies held its fourth annual Grace Street Festival from noon to 5 p.m.
The festival included cuisine from Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Brazil and Korea.
There were musical performances by local rap artists, German jazz artist Pia Zierhut and Italian singer and VCU doctoral student Carri Naumann-Monti. African jazz, Peruvian jam and American Fusion and Funk played in the background as students, parents and children cruised around the multiple stands.
With a stage set up in the middle of Grace Street, performances stopped the flow of viewers as fire thrower Kate Dietrich, a senior international studies major, stepped up.
Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” poured out of the speakers as Dietrich began twirling and swinging the balls of fire.
Dietrich learned her talent at a summer camp. She said she burned off a few chunks of hair during the learning process. Now she keeps her hair wrapped up, and she wets it before she performs.
Fall Fest committee member Chris McDaniel, president of campus ministry for Rejoyce in Jesus Ministries, comes to the festival every year. Rejoyce in Jesus provided the popcorn and cotton candy, as well as the blow-up amusement rides.
“It’s an opportunity just to get out, for everybody on the block to get out,” he said. “You can be neighbors and not even know who’s next door.”
Students used the Grace Street Festival as an opportunity to teach other students about their organizations.
Jessica Mudre, a junior psychology major and member of the events committee for the new Sierra Student Coalition, said she came out to educate students on the coalition, the only environmental group on VCU’s campus.
“We’re letting people know about our group that we just started,” she said. “We’re trying to get as many people interested and involved as we can because we just formed about a month and a half ago.”
Right now the Sierra Student Coalition is working on getting renewable energy at VCU. Mudre said the festival was an opportunity to find those interested in similar ideals.
Students at the festival walked home with free food, memories full of good entertainment, and an education on new groups on campus and in the community.