The Drill Field was covered with people attending the 14th International Fiesta, sponsored by the World Neighbors’ Association Saturday.
The event, which began at 10 a.m., included food and exhibits from countries represented among Mississippi State’s student body, a fashion show, two live bands and a cricket match against the University of Alabama.
Arif Volkan Vural, an engineering graduate student, came to the fiesta to get food from his home country of Turkey.
“I think the event has been quite good,” Volkan Vural said. “I have tried many different foods. I came for my country’s food, and I have tried some foods that I knew and some foods that I did not know.”
Organizer Amanda Harrison estimated an attendance of between 800 and 900 people.
“A lot of people came out today for the fiesta. We have had more groups participate, and more people here than last year,” Harrison said.
Phyllis Miller, a human sciences professor who also works with the World Neighbor’s Association, said that 20 booths represented international student associations in the university as well as the Student Association and UNICEF, an organization that supports underprivileged children worldwide.
At each of the booths traditional food from the perspective country was sold with the money being used to fund the event in the future.
Organizers also added American food in this year’s fiesta in an attempt to improve the celebration each year.
“We incorporated good ol’ American things because to other people, we are international,” Miller said.
The MSU Cricket Club beat Alabama in the Saturday afternoon game.
“We all played well in the game,” Vikram Venkatesh, a cricket club member, said. “We continued from our win at Florida and it turned out well,” he added, speaking of the club’s victory at a tournament at the University of Florida last month.
Awards were given for outstanding players. Abdub Dahian received a trophy for best Batsman, and Leathen was awarded a trophy for best Bowler.
The cricket club has approximately 65 members from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh and the United States.
The club meets on the Drill Field almost every week for practice.
From practice, players can be selected to compete in games against other schools, which they try to schedule every month.
Organizers for the International Fashion Show said the event was a success this year, with 60 models representing 12 countries.
“It turned out quite well,” Miller said. “We had three times as many people participate as have in the past.”
Miller’s Apparel and Design II class organized the event this year.
“The students have learned the importance of flexibility by organizing the show. They are always full of surprises,” Miller said. “It gave them the opportunity to work and talk with people that they might not normally talk to.”
During the fashion show’s intermission, a band, Twisted Development, played. After the show, the band Flux entertained fiesta attendees.
Even though they feel the event was a success, organizers say that improvements are still needed.
“In the future, we would like to see more involvement from MSU students,” Miller said. “We had people attend from the community and the region, but not as many students came as we would like.”