The executive director of the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County (MCC) says he's pleased to see a grant to assist with their largest yearly event.
Fred Francis says it's great news that the MCC will receive a $30,000 grant through the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund (OCAF) to be used for the Carrousel of the Nations 2026.
This funding will be used to support promotion of the 2026 event, and to expand the programming and community engagement initiatives.
The festival celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025, and featured 37 different villages such as Greek, Caribbean, Polish, Mexican, and Middle Eastern.
The festival has also been recognized by Attractions Ontario as a Top Festival and Event in Ontario for the past three consecutive years.
Francis says they are very thankful for this grant.
"This money will go to essentially help promote Carrousel of the Nations, and get that message with respect to its June dates, the different villages, the times, the festivities, to more people in our region."
He says this funding is crucial and the festival continues to expand.
"We're seeing villages all across the county in areas we've never seen it before... Kingsville, Amherstburg, Leamington is becoming bigger and better every single year, and obviously the staple villages in the City of Windsor from Greek, to Polish, to Italian. There's so many different villages that have come back year after year, but there's so many new villages."
Francis says the community loves the event.
"Last year when we sat down and we did all of the social media interactions, we were at one million, we had never seen numbers in the millions before, so we're seeing interactions. And it really got to the point of going to Carrousel was the question, and now it's not even a question, it's how many villages are you going to go to."
The festival will also introduce a new collaboration with the Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF), creating additional opportunities to highlight international arts and storytelling as part of the overall celebration.
Carrousel of the Nations 2026 will take place in June.