Kent International Festival

At 1:15 in the afternoon on Saturday, May 30, 2026, the Dekoboko Taiko group took the 4Culture Stage inside the arena of the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent. Organizers had invited people to “come hear and FEEL the sounds of this group.” They also promised “plenty of seating and even tables to sit at and eat your food” from the food court during the set. Dekoboko Taiko, a local Pacific Northwest group, was returning to the Kent International Festival. The 2026 edition was the 18th annual festival. It ran from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission was free.

Two stages on West James Street

The festival describes itself as “a celebration of the cultural diversity represented in the greater Kent community.” Its program spreads through the arena at 625 West James Street and onto the ground outside. Performances run on two stages at once: the 4Culture Stage indoors and the Plaza Stage outdoors in front of the building. Both stages were fully booked for 2026.

At 2:30 the indoor stage went to Adefua, a Seattle-based West African music and dance group. The Kent Reporter named the set among the day’s highlights. Organizers wrote that Adefua’s performances “excite and satisfy your soul’s desire to get up and interact!” Afua Kouyate founded the group and directs the ADEFUA Cultural Education Workshop in Seattle, which works with young people through the study of African culture, music and dance.

Out on the plaza, the cultural retail and information booths stood in numbered places, 11 through 67. Clothing and scent sellers set up there, among them Zar Collection, Lana Moda, Rumaan Style and Laili Amber Perfume. Hilaac Groceries, Rainier Honey Co, Somali Bantu Rising and the Refugee Artisan Initiative had booths too. Public agencies took places in the same rows: the Kent Police Department, the Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority, the King County Library System, Green River College and the Washington State Office of Equity. Bloodworks NW brought a mobile blood drive unit, open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit Kent, the city’s tourism site, lists the festival as one of Kent’s signature events and calls Kent “the nation’s 8th most diverse city.”

The food court in the west parking lot

The International Taste of Kent Food Court served from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the arena’s west parking lot. Four trucks made up the 2026 lineup:

• Paparepas cooked Venezuelan food, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices.
• The Next Slice Pizza Co. made homemade New York style pizza in what it calls a “bespoke trailer.”
• Khun 9 Thai Truck cooked with fresh, locally sourced ingredients.
• Auntie’s Family Kitchen served Filipino and Hawaiian food. The truck has since grown into catering and school partnerships.

Pop-up booths filled out the lot:

• Theary Cambodian Foods served Khmer dishes. Its owners call their cuisine “in danger of being forgotten.”
• Puddin’ Cakz, a family business from Renton, layered pudding, cheesecake and toppings, with fresh-squeezed lemonade and southern style po’boys alongside.
• Puffle Up fried battered mozzarella on a stick, sold as Korean cheese dogs.
• em Studio Cafe poured Vietnamese style coffee and matcha.
• Masthi Bar & Grill offered Indian wraps, rice bowls and noodles.
• Yummy Eateries brought African finger foods.
• Project Feast served Middle Eastern food. The organization trains refugees and immigrants for careers in the food industry.

One food vendor set up on the plaza instead: Kulphi, which makes kulfi milk popsicles from whole milk in more than 11 flavors in Redmond.

Passports and student art

Inside, the concourse held the ten Passport Cultural Booths:

• Blue Heron Canoe for the Snohomish
• the Greater Kent Historical Society for the USA
• Mother Africa
• the Iraqi Community Center of Washington
• the South Puget Sound Chinese Language School for Taiwan
• the Rowan Fae Irish Dance Company
• the Kent Sister Cities Association for Japan, China and Norway
• the Little Multilingual Education Group for China
• Thungc Enterprises for the Lu Mien
• the Khalsa Gurmat Center for Punjab

A visitor asks for a KIF Passport at the booth marked with its picture. At each cultural booth the visitor plays a game, does an activity or takes a challenge, then has the passport stamped. With every stamp collected, the visitor returns to vote for the best booth and receives a free item.

The arena floor held an exhibit of art by Kent School District students and by Kent Educators of Color, who brought a Black Lives Matter art display. Visitors could try art activities there, such as making a bookmark. Meeker Middle School ran a STEM Station nearby. Kent Meridian High School had a table for its Coding Club and for its second “We Are America” Book Project.

From Sister Cities to its own nonprofit

The Kent Sister Cities Association, which kept a passport booth in 2026, once held the whole festival. The festival had been part of the association since 2010. In 2019 it became its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and organizers say they are “so thankful for their support during this transition.” The festival’s video archive reaches back to 2015, with films from 2016, 2018 and 2019.

In 2020 the festival could not gather in person. Organizers instead held their first online event on the festival’s Facebook page, with interviews of past performers, cultural booths, food court restaurants and sponsors. Another online celebration followed on June 5, 2021. From that period came a video series called Cultural Stories. It included conversations with Zenovia Harris, CEO of the Kent Chamber of Commerce, and with Wasfee Vazir, founder of Hindi Time Kids. The series also visited three family restaurants: Nana’s Southern Kitchen on the East Hill, and Antigua Guatemala and Big Boys Kainan in the Valley. In one episode, Kausar Ahmed cooked three Pakistani recipes. Ahmed was born in Karachi and is a cookbook author with over 25 years in culinary arts, and she planned to help grow the Project Feast training programs in Kent.

The festival met in person again on June 18, 2022, and on June 3, 2023. According to The B-Town Blog, the 2023 art exhibit showed work by almost 150 students. That exhibit was organized by the Kent Community Foundation, which had sponsored the festival’s art show for several years. The 16th annual festival came on June 1, 2024. That year the trucks served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and pop-up food vendors appeared for the first time. The festival moved to May in 2025.

The festival is run by a nonprofit, and its budget comes from several places. The City of Kent awards grants through the Kent Lodging Tax and the Community Arts Support Program. Arts WA and the National Endowment for the Arts have been grant supporters for several years. Sponsors range from credit unions to the Kent Rotary Club and Seattle Somali Cultural Events.

Three days after the 2026 festival, organizers posted their thanks: “We had great weather, wonderful vendors, performers, volunteers and attendees.” With it they shared a time-lapse of the whole day, shot by the festival’s videographer, Vision Ignited Productions, and set to custom music.