The food, traditions, music, resources, dancing, art, backgrounds, perspectives and individual expressions of Woodbury’s rich garden of cultures will be in full bloom this Saturday, Sept. 20 at the annual “One Woodbury” celebration at Ojibway Park.

“We were started from a community-engagement process where at first we were creating a community-engagement resource list with the involvement of a long list of groups,” noted City Community Relations Manager Shelly Shafer.

“And with the synergy that developed among all these groups, we all started working together to create our first event in 2023. At the same time, we were also hoping to create a collective and individual sense of belonging for everyone here, as well as a sort of a Woodbury racial-equity identity.”

This year’s annual One Woodbury begins at 11 a.m. and ends at 2:30 p.m.

Throughout the day, food trucks will serve a variety of signature choices from around the world. Community Partner booths will offer visitors information from local community organizations on how they’re working to create an inclusive Woodbury.

There will also be bounce houses for the kids.

“This will be a wonderful community event where people can learn from one another and celebrate one another,” Shafer said.

“So this will also be a good place to not only talk about community, but to BE a community,” Shafer said.

And, of course, the park’s Woodbury Lions Bandshell is expected be its usual crowd-pleaser all day.

Performances are scheduled by DJ Dime, Salsa del Soul, the Park High School Step Team, Zumba, NUNNAbove, the Imnizaska Drum Group, Hoang Ahn, Ritmos Del Peru y mas, and the SoWashCo Dance Group. 

The first One Woodbury in 2023, organized by about 40 volunteers with no budget, drew about 2,000 to Ojibway Park.

Since then, a series of other related events have been added throughout the year to supplement the summer celebration.