'Barnaroo' at Heifer Village an international adventure

A cultural and culinary trip around the world is as quick and easy as a trip to downtown Little Rock on Saturday. That's when Heifer Village presents Barnaroo -- a festival celebrating "international transFARMations" and the work Heifer International does to combat hunger and poverty across the globe.

"I would describe it like a fair," says Ellen Brown, Heifer's campus operations manager. "There's going to be some free family fun to be had."

There will be areas set up for Heifer's main regions of influence: Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United States. Each one will have hands-on activities -- some for adults, some for children -- to help visitors learn a bit about that region and Heifer's programs there.

In Latin America, people of all ages can hand-make tortillas and engage in a little papel picado -- decorative craft of perforated paper.

The Asia area will have a vendor doing temporary henna tattoos. As an alternative, children can design their own decorative henna creations on pieces of paper.

A drum circle will keep things lively in Africa, where guests can also learn how to do a traditional African head wrap.

In the United States, there will be seed plantings.

Throughout the day, guests can expect entertainment and events, starting with goat yoga lessons at 10 a.m., to be followed by an African fashion show and a Latin American dance team performance, with an urban farm workshop demonstration in the afternoon.

Brown says to check the Facebook page (see box) for the schedule to plan a visit around the entertainment visitors are most interested in. "You can't go wrong."

Each region will have vendors including Desirene Afrik Boutique, Mount Olive Smoked Pepper and JK Woodworking. The gift shop will be open, too, stocked with special items including Barnaroo T-shirts.

Heifer's International Cafe will be open throughout, with a special international menu of foods.

"We'll have our kids menu but we'll also have an African, Asian, Latin American and U.S. meal," Brown says. "So there will be one meal representing each of those areas available."

General admission is free, but donations to Heifer International and its programs are welcome.

With tastes, sights and sounds, Brown says, "Our hope is that through attending Barnaroo, folks will learn more about Heifer and our work in the United States and around the world.

"Come early and stay long because there's going to be plenty to fill most of their day. Anybody and everybody is going to find tons of things to do that day to have fun on our campus."

Weekend on 09/20/2018