Dutch heritage to be celebrated Saturday, Nov. 15

Celebrating Dutch Heritage through music, dance, traditional food and cultural exhibits is the focus of a program Purdue University Calumet is hosting Saturday, Nov. 15.

The three-hour celebration begins at 2 p.m. in Alumni Hall of the university’s Student Union & Library.

The group, “Dutch History Live,” from Holland, Mich. will perform songs, skits, a wooden shoe dance and a craft demonstration.

Additionally, the Purdue Calumet Theatre Company will perform a short drama based on readings from “The Diary of Anne Frank,” written by the German-Jewish teen whose family left Nazi Germany during World War II and eventually went into hiding in Amsterdam, Netherlands to escape anti-Jewish persecution. The Theatre Company also will perform “The Diary of Callie” about Dutch-Americans sheltering escaped slaves in pre-Emancipation America.

Authentic Dutch cuisine will be catered by Van Til’s Delicatessen and Almira’s Bakery. Several local Dutch-American businesses will have displays.

Admission is free.

The Dutch heritage celebration is the latest in Purdue Calumet’s Building Community Through the Arts program series, designed to celebrate the ethnic and cultural diversity of northwest Indiana.

The Student Union & Library is near the south end of Purdue Calumet, located one-third mile north of Interstate 80/94, three blocks east of Indianapolis Boulevard, north of the traffic light on 173rd Street.

News Release Date: November 5, 2008