The Ethiopian Community Association held its first festival event in the summer of 2010. This required many years of preparation and counted on leaders with an understanding of the interests, diversity, and trends of the community. The first step was finding stakeholders, associates, and other community leaders, recruiting volunteers as organizers turn this noble idea into a reality. The Festival is now an established annual event and to build on the legacy of the founding members, a standing organizing committee has been formed. The organizing committee is responsible for the planning and organizing of this annual event.  The Ethiopian Summer Festival has the following objectives, vision, mission, and goals:

OBJECTIVES:

• To strengthen our community’s identity and spirit
• To provide a venue to showcase our artists and businesses to display and sell their products
• To provide an opportunity for ourselves and others to learn, appreciate and be proud of our heritage

VISION:

Cherish the rich diversity of our community and unite in the knowledge and understanding of our culture.

MISSION STATEMENT:

To build a community that is knowledgeable and motivated to preserve our culture, we must provide an environment that promotes, celebrates, and nurtures the unique and beautiful diverse culture to shape our future.

GOALS:

• To be recognized as one of the most colourful and vibrant festivals in our city
• To highlight the achievements of our youth and nurture their skills, talents and creativity
• To present our colourful culture through food and music and enrich Canada’s multicultural mosaic