Culture
Conveniently located on the shores of a Great Lake, Erie has long been considered a prosperous region to settle for generations of immigrants from across the globe. During the early 20th century, immigrants arrived in mass from Germany, Ireland, Poland, Italy and Russia and laid the ground work for an influx of refugees from the former Soviet Union, Bosnia, Vietnam, Iraq, Somalia, Bulgaria and the Sudan. Initially, many of these groups settled in a particular neighborhood or area of the city to recreate the sense of community in their own respective homelands. This practice gave rise to the development of ethnicity-based sections of the city, many of which still maintain some semblance of their particular culture to the present day.
The current city landscape resembles a virtual melting pot of ethnicities though many of the 'old' neighborhoods continue to honor their rich cultural histories through community outreach and cultural education. Annual summertime festivals and events serve as celebration of the vast ethnicities that make up our community. The Erie community embraces such events as the Russian Troika Festival, Polish Zabawa, Greek Panegyri, Irish, Italian and Pan-Asian festivals, all of which bring an opportunity to experience a wide array of ethnic food, drink, entertainment, architecture and tradition.
We encourage you to visit these fun and unique events and take advantage of all they offer to Erie's cultural landscape. Go ahead-- travel the world this summer without leaving home!
Search the Culture Community
The CultureSpark community is a melting pot of everyone who represents, promotes, supports or takes part in art around Northwest Pennsylvania. Search for a specific organization, festival or business, or just see who is part of our growing community.
