Crossing the pond from cities like Liverpool and London, the city of Santa Clarita welcomed the “Celebrate” series back with England at the Canyon Country Community Center on Friday.
Minding the gap between various booths, attendees could enjoy activities that entailed pop culture references, such as making a “Harry Potter” wand and creating a “Robin Hood” hat and reflecting telescope, all while taking photos in front of a cutout Big Ben and kicking around a “football.”
In addition, guests could collect a new stamp visiting the six countries of the “Celebrate” lineup for a chance to enter a raffle, with prizes inspired by the countries. The countries or regions included in this year’s Celebrate series are:
- May 8: Cajun
- June 12: Indonesia
- July 10: Argentina
- August 14: Jamaica
- Sept. 11: Mexico
“Celebrate started in 2022 and it has continued and progressed. We’ve just really built a cool event for the community to experience different cultures that they might not have gotten to experience before. It removes the need to travel and allows people to really embrace different communities while they come with curiosity,” said Cali Nocella, events coordinator for the city of Santa Clarita.
Nocella noted the various activities that honored English contributions to society.
“We rented a telephone booth, but we added in the ‘leave a message’ feature. We also have inflatable soccer, and a plethora of arts and crafts that are distinct to England, like postage stamps, teacups, crowns. People can make their own Stonehenge replica,” Nocella said.
Planning this year’s installment since September, it’s worth all the effort to see the community come together, according to Nocella.
“We’re celebrating Mexico again, and it’s going to be cool to see that. It’s also our first time celebrating a culture, so we’re celebrating the Cajun culture in May — I’m excited to kind of see it all come to life, and to do something a little differently,” Nocella said. “It’s been really cool to see this event grow and see how the community embraces it every month. They come out for their community, and also to learn about other communities. You can see the love, pride and a little piece of who they are through these events, and I think that’s been my favorite part.”
La Mesa Junior High School volunteers Sam Thoka, 14, and Sid Tokala, 13, were in charge of helping guests assemble their Stonehenge crafts.
“This one is decorating the tiny box they have, represented by England, of course, and they just decorate the box with clay and then add the grass on top of it,” Thoka said.
“It’s been fun. Like, we get to teach them how to do it, and they get to learn,” Tokala added.
Volunteering for four hours until 9:30 p.m., the students have been focused on earning as many volunteer hours as possible.
“We started because of school, but then we tried to do 100 hours for the Presidential Award. It’s good because you get to help the community, and they like it when you help them. I’m currently at 110 hours right now,” Thoka said.
Although Tokala is just shy of 30 hours, the seventh grader finds gratification in helping the community.
“We volunteer for our National Junior Honor Society, but now that we met that requirement, we’re trying to do the Presidential Award,” Tokala said. “Volunteering benefits the community, benefits you. It’s a win for everyone. It’s fun, and you get to go to the events and help other people.”
