Festival of Nations returns to Tower Grove Park Aug. 24 and 25

St. Louis’ annual international cultural showcase is a must for local food lovers

Festival of Nations returns to Tower Grove Park on Aug. 24 and 25, celebrating the food, music and culture of St. Louis’ diverse communities. The eagerly anticipated annual event is expected to be attended by more than 100,000 people across Saturday and Sunday and will feature more than 200 vendors and artists representing the food and culture of more than 75 countries.

The festival is put on each year by the International Institute of St. Louis (IISTL) and claims to be the largest annual multicultural celebration in the St. Louis region. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24, and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 25. Attendance is free, with performances on multiple stages and food, beverages and other items available for purchase from vendors stationed along the park’s roadways. The festival spreads out across a large section of Tower Grove Park between Center Cross Drive and Grand Boulevard: Detailed maps and parking information can be found on the festival website. 

Piper Palm House will be converted to a “VIP Oasis” for the weekend, offering an elevated Festival of Nations experience with perks including access to an air-conditioned lounge area, private restrooms, a shaded patio, yard games and a viewing area for the main stage. VIP Oasis passes are available here. 

Festival of Nations is one of the Sauce team’s favorite events of the year, and naturally we look forward to the food first and foremost, from arepas and tacos to jollof rice, pad thai, fufu, shaved ice desserts, funnel cake and much more. If you’ve never been before, take it from us: This is a truly unique opportunity to sample food from every corner of the world, and to appreciate the fact that we have such an array of culinary traditions available to us right here in St. Louis.

Some of the food vendors have brick-and-mortar restaurants or food trucks, some don’t, but all are bringing something special to Tower Grove Park for one weekend only. A comprehensive list of vendors (food, beverage, retail and more) is available here, but the lineup includes: A Taste of Balkan, Axxait, Abby’s Filipino, Amaizing Arepa Bar, Angel’s Fruits, Anis Hyderabad House, Babushka’s Polish Foods, Bad Bella Bakery, Brasilia, Dat Bayou Concession, Drunken Fish, El Campeon, El Molino del Sureste, Enrique’s Place, Fufu ‘n Sauce, Goshen Coffee, Gunash, Himalayan Yeti, Honey Bee Tea, House of Jollof, Hyderabadi Zayakha, Kain Tayo Filipino Cuisine, Kimchi Guys, Levels Nigerian Cuisine, Maize and Wheat, Meskerem and more. 

Alex Henry of Sureste and El Molino del Sureste said he grew up attending Festival of Nations, with Belizean food a recurring highlight for his family (the Belizean stall will be back again this year). “Before we opened our restaurants that was typically the closest we could get to Yucatecan cuisine,” he said. “Growing up in the ‘90s having been recent transplants from Mexico, it was one of the few opportunities to get cuisine that was much more like what we were used to at home, even if not exactly,” said Alex’s brother and co-owner at Sureste and El Molino, Jeff Henry, adding that the festival also introduced him to flavors, music and cultures he had never experienced before. 

Jeff Henry said he’ll be going straight to Majeed Mediterranean Restaurant’s stall and also looked forward to trying food from Levels Nigerian Cuisine. Alex’s tips included Bosnian cuisine from A Taste of Balkan and Himalayan Yeti’s Nepalese cuisine. 

“It makes me feel like I’m in somewhere like New York City,” said Indo and Sado chef-owner Nick Bognar. “There’s just so much that I’ve never seen or heard of before, and it’s just fun to walk around and check it out and talk to people … I always learn something about some other country that I didn’t know.” Bognar’s game plan for good eating at Festival of Nations: Go early, and get ready to wait in line – don’t avoid the stalls that have long lines, because that’s probably where some of the best food is at. Instead, grab some food you can easily walk with – an empanada or a flatbread, for example – and that you can munch on while you wait. “Last year I had some wonderful Filipino barbecue from Kain Tayo,” Bognar said. A Jamaican braised oxtail dish was another highlight. “It was spicy, just super full of flavor, really bold flavors over rice and beans,” he said. 

“Food is one of the first things that comes to mind when we think of cultural celebration, so we always do our best to have authentic vendors that span across a multitude of countries,” said Arrey Obenson, president and CEO of the IISTL in a statement. “This year, we are introducing more experiential vendors like roller skating with Skate Culture  and open mic with Poetic Justice to Festival of Nations that give guests more of an interactional element." 

The lineup of musical performers includes headline acts like Mai Lee, Mannywellz, Lisa Ramey, Mali Music, Brooklyn Saint, Naledi and more, with performances from local cultural groups including St. Louis Modern Chinese School, St. Louis Cultural Flamenco Society, Dizzy Atmosphere and more. The full lineup of performers is available here.