From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Mon Jul 21 2008 - 11:13:44 EDT
Globeville savors its food festival, heritage
The former enclave of European immigrants, now home to many Latinos,
gathers in celebration.
By Tom McGhee
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 07/21/2008 01:02:29 AM MDT
Gary Seurer stood over a layer of white-hot charcoal as three legs of
lamb turned on a spit and the air around him pulsed with heat.
"People like to see how they're cooked," the retired Denver police
officer said, nodding toward the glistening joints of meat. Seurer, 59,
who grew up in Globeville, was back in the Denver neighborhood Sunday to
participate in an annual Ethnic Food Festival.
Like most of those selling foods that included Russian povitica, a nut
bread; tamales; and German butter cake, Seurer attends Holy
Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral in Globeville, one of the sponsors
of the festival.
The neighborhood was originally settled in the late 1880s by immigrants
from Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Germany, Poland and other
Slavic countries.
Seurer lives in Lakewood, but each Sunday, he returns to his old
neighborhood to attend church in the 110-year-old Russian Orthodox
church.
He remembers a time when many of the residents were displaced persons
who left their native countries when World War II swept the continent.
"The parents all worked down here at the packing houses," he said.
Most of the European immigrants and their children who lived in the
small homes that line Globeville's streets have moved on, and the area
is now largely Latino.
Tomas Parra, 68, came from his home in the Baker neighborhood to watch
his daughter, Yanis, 12, dance.
Yanis Parra is a member of Grupo Folklorico Sabor Latino and performed
traditional Mexican dance at the festival. "It is so much fun; it's a
workout," she said, patting her stomach as she headed to buy something
to drink after her performance.
Ben Yohannes of Aurora also is a parishioner at the church and was
selling the food of his native Eritrea.
Yohannes, who works in assembly at a medical supply company, has been in
the United States for 20 years. He left Eritrea during the country's
30-year war of independence with Ethiopia, he said.
It was his first year cooking for the event, the proceeds of which go to
Holy Transfiguration.
The two-day festival, which ended Sunday, featured an arts and crafts
show, games and cultural and historical displays, historic tours and
ethnic singers, dancers and bands from around the world.
"Every culture is here," Seurer said. "That is the neat part of it."
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
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