HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — The food and culture from a dozen countries around the world will be on display at the Richmond Raceway for the 2026 Multicultural Festival.
Richmond’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Engagement (OIRE), in partnership with Henrico County’s Multicultural Engagement Division and ReEstablish Richmond, organized the festival in celebration of National Immigrant Heritage Month.
“What makes this festival so special is that while the Richmond region has a ton of cultural events, rarely can you come to one spot and experience the true breadth of diversity that is our multicultural community,” says Will Cumbia, Outreach and Volunteer Manager of ReEstablish Richmond.
Attendees can enjoy authentic food, vibrant music, live performances, local vendors, and community resources from 1 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Richmond Raceway Expo Hall One, according to OIRE manager Karla Almendarez-Ramos.
Nearly 80 organizations will have booths with resources for newcomers and immigrant communities.
“Day to day, we serve the newcomer communities in the city, and we see how sometimes these communities are invisible in some way. This festival elevates the contributions of immigrants and refugees to our communities and change a little bit the narrative of who we are, and for all of us as immigrants. I am an immigrant. It's important to share the culture where we come from,” Almendarez-Ramos said.
According to the U.S. Census American Community Survey, 14 percent of Henrico’s population and nine percent of Richmond’s population is foreign-born.
That includes Hamidullah Noori, chef and owner of The Mantu: Modern Afghan Cuisine in Carytown.
Noori immigrated to Virginia in 2015 to make a new life and escape the violence in Afghanistan.
He joined a group of restauranteurs who had established Afghan cuisine eateries in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
Chef Noori and his team will offer kebabs, fresh bread, and Afghan salads at the festival for attendees to try a new food.
“This is a great opportunity for me to showcase our Afghani cultural food. People don't know much about Afghanistan, about the culture itself, about the food, about the hospitality of the country. But this is a great opportunity for me to show that Afghanistan has been forgotten for centuries, and now it's coming back with the food,” he said.
Many more Afghan families now call Virginia home after U.S. forces withdrew from the country and the Taliban took control.
"The face of Richmond has changed over the last 20 years, and we have seen immigrants become a much bigger part of our story,” said Mayor Danny Avula.
Meals served at Noori’s restaurant and jewelry made by his employee help support the people who still call Afghanistan home.
“This is not just a restaurant. This is a place where the voice that speaks for Afghan women and for Afghan girls in Afghanistan. I wish I could do more, but even saving one person saves the humanity,” he said.
The festival is made possible through the support of corporate and community sponsors, including Dominion Energy, Sheetz, Virginia Housing, Virginia Humanities, Super Radiator Coils, Dyer Immigration Law Group, and Ultra Radio Richmond.
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