Carrousel of the Nations originated in June 1974, when the Arts Committee of Windsor, with the help of a $3,500 grant from the Ministry of Culture and Recreation, presented Windsor’s inaugural Multicultural Festival. 
 

Held at St. Clair College’s Patterson Campus, the first Multicultural Festival was comprised of three days of folk arts, crafts and foods. The weekend’s finale featured a concert at the former Cleary Auditorium with eighteen groups performing to an audience of over 800. The festival was regarded as a tremendous success and inspired what we today know as the Carrousel of the Nations. 
 

The following year, with co-operation from the Freedom Festival, a downtown bazaar was held in the Cleary Auditorium parking lot featuring fourteen ethnic food booths together with a large exhibit of cultural artifacts. In 1976, the Ontario Government announced a cultural grants program inviting groups to submit their proposals for the Cultural Olympics.
 

Formal planning began in February 1976, and the weekend of June 11th was confirmed along with the concept of separate ethno-cultural villages - Carrousel of the Nations.
 

49 years later, the award-winning Carrousel of the Nations is an integral part of the region’s summer festival season. Carrousel engages through food, music, and dance. The only ethnic and multicultural festival in the region, Carrousel provides residents and visitors with exposure to a wide array of cultures and traditions which they may otherwise never experience. The MCC is proud to coordinate the efforts of individual ethnic communities and to assist in educating and entertaining countless attendees as we celebrate the diversity that makes Windsor so amazing. 

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