CHINATOWN — A yearly street festival celebrating the area’s Chinese- and Italian-American communities returns next week with several cultural performances, a pop-up museum and a procession featuring 15-foot marionettes.
Highlights of this year’s Marco Polo Festival includes the Silk Road Museum, a pop-up exhibition in a yurt that features artifacts collected by filmmaker Denis Belliveau, who directed the Emmy-nominated documentary “In the Footsteps of Marco Polo.”
Other events include the festival’s grand procession, which includes 15-foot puppets of Marco Polo and Kublai Khan and a 50-foot-long hand-painted silk map of the Silk Road.
“Everybody loves the procession, this is like the big thing,” said Elisa Espiritu, the director of development and communications for the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, which organizes the event each year.
Following the procession, cultural groups like the New York Chinese Opera Society, will perform on a stage at Grand Street and Mulberry Street, she said.
“It’s just a nice pause in the day to remember the rich culture and the rich histories of the communities that reside there,” Espiritu said.
The Marco Polo Festival will take place rain or shine on Oct. 17 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a main stage at Mulberry and Grand streets. For more information about the event and the procession route, visit its website.
