The aromas of spicy meats and sweet, doughy funnel cakes and the overlapping sounds of thudding drums and metal gongs filled the air in Circus Square Park Saturday.

Bowling Green’s 19th annual International Festival drew thousands of people outside on the sunny September day.

Kim Mason, the executive director for the festival, expected a big crowd. She said among other participants, Western had more tables than they’ve ever had before.

“Especially for a city our size, Bowling Green is extremely diverse,” Mason said.

The festival aims to celebrate ethnic and cultural diversity in Bowling Green and to encourage communication among cultures.

Sculptor Ronnie Jaggers uses her craft to share a candy-filled Mexican tradition.

More than 20 children stood in a half circle around a red, craft-paper bull dangling by a rope from four bamboo poles as a boy swung a wooden bat at it.

They shouted “Hit it harder,” and “Rip that guy’s head off.” One final smack of the bat tore open the paper stomach. The children darted in, shrieking with excitement, to gather the candy spoils.

Jaggers created the bull, which she donated along with several other piñatas, at her Chiseled Features studio. She said the festival helps to create a feeling of brotherhood in the community and to dispel prejudice.

“The unknown is scary,” Jaggers said. “Children come see other cultures, they taste their food, they see pictures of their home countries, they hear their music; now they’re not strangers anymore.”

Children weren’t the only ones enjoying the multicultural fare at the festival. Families, students and couples young and old wove their ways between the colorful tents.

Hope Mires, a second grade teacher at Hiseville Elementary, visited the festival with her husband and two daughters.

“I’m always interested in seeing what the other countries have and seeing all the different purses and beads and things like that,” she said.

Festival-goers also enjoyed the numerous performances throughout the day.

Western hospitality major Yong Kim looked on as fellow South Korean Student Association members preformed a demonstration of Samul Nori, a traditional percussion ensemble, on one of the grassy stages. Six students wearing red, blue and yellow sashes around their shoulders secured by black and white sashes at their waists crouched in a cluster, each playing a gong or drums.

“We usually have American culture because we live here, but we don’t really have a chance to introduce our culture often,” Kim said. “This is a really good chance to let people see what our country is and what we have.”

The association is made up of English as a Second Language International students along with graduate and undergraduate students. Most of the members stayed up all night Friday preparing their costumes, foods and face-paints to share at the festival.

Bowling Green Girl Scout troop 1262 came to the festival to earn three badges: Global Awareness, World Neighbors and Celebrating People.

Troop leader Jean Johnson shepherded the group of fifth-grade girls through the crowd, stopping at booths so they could ask questions about the different countries represented.

“What they get out of this is an understanding of the difference in the cultures, seeing the different clothes that they wear and just learning about people elsewhere,” Johnson said.

Behind her, the girls were learning a Vietnamese greeting.

“Xin Chao,” they chorused back to the silk-clad woman at the booth.

LeOra Day stood behind a table strewn with exotic printed fabrics, bells and finger-cymbals between performances with her Middle East Dance troupe, the Lotus Dancers.

“I always try to promote what I call world peace through dance,” Day said. “Pretty much all cultures have some kind of dancing, and it’s a good way to bridge gaps between people.”

The Bowling Green Vietnamese Association hosted a fashion show, a kids karate demonstration and a dragon dance. At their booth, members of the organization offered egg rolls to passers-by. Trung Trinh, a Bowling Green pharmacist born in Saigon, took a break to eat a doughnut.

“Being able to gather together on a single day brings our close-knit community to the Bowling Green community,” Trinh said. He said the group gathers four times a year for cultural events, including the Veteran’s Parade and the Vietnamese New Year.

Across the park, a conversation exemplified the cross-cultural sharing the festival encourages. A man with a long white beard wearing a red tartan kilt stood surrounded by members of Western’s Chinese Student Association. Harold Maxwell is a founder of the High Cross Society, a Celtic heritage group in Bowling Green.

He explained the traditions of his Scottish ancestors’ two handed sword. Seconds later, he was playing Chinese folk music on his own flute.

“My parents were missionaries in Hong Kong, and I grew up overseas,” Maxwell said. “I can’t imagine not traveling and having dialogue with other cultures. I think it’s the most exciting thing in the world.”

Reach Eileen Ryan at diversions@chherald.com.