Albany's Empire State Plaza Convention Center will once again fill with the smells of two dozen-plus cuisines and the sounds of music from around the globe when the Festival of Nations returns on Sunday, Nov. 1, from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. This year marks the festival's 55th annual edition, and organizers say 27 nations will take part.
The daylong celebration is designed to bring together the Capital Region's diverse diasporic communities for a shared cultural showcase, according to the Times Union. The event will open with a parade of nations before moving into a full day of dance and musical performances. Attendees can also browse cultural art made by local artists and purchase traditional dishes representing each participating country.
Manoj Ajmera, who has chaired the festival's planning committee for 41 years and helped pioneer the event, said the festival puts the region's cultural makeup on full display. “We have everything on display to show the many countries that are represented in the Capital Region, the people who call this place home,” Ajmera said, per the Times Union's reporting. He added that reaching the 55th year feels exciting and that organizers are already looking ahead to next year's festival.
Miss Festival of Nations Tradition Continues
Alongside the food and performances, the festival selects a teenage representative from each participating nation, ages 14 to 18, to compete for the title of Miss Festival of Nations, a tradition that is named annually. Judges interviewed each candidate at a separate event in early October, where participating nations also prepared a signature dish for the initial judging round. Finalists will take part in another round of interviews on festival day itself.
Nony Melia, vice chair of the festival's committee, called the pageant tradition one of her favorite parts of the event. The format echoes past years: at the 52nd annual festival in 2023, one contestant from each nation was introduced before finalists answered a question scored by outside judges, according to the Times Union. Candidates have historically also been asked about their volunteer work, school activities and knowledge of the traditions of the country they represent, as NEWS10 reported ahead of last year's event.
A Festival That Keeps Growing
Ajmera expects this year's festival to draw thousands of attendees, continuing a pattern that has held for years — about 3,000 people have typically turned out annually, the Times Union has reported. Last year's 54th annual festival, held Nov. 2, 2025, at Empire State Plaza, featured 26 different countries filling the convention center, according to NEWS10's coverage of that event. That edition also featured dancers representing Nepal among its performances.
This year's 55th annual edition follows last year's 54th. Last year's gathering let visitors sample dishes from more than 25 countries, including favorites from Guyana, Indonesia and Romania, as noted by WNYT in its preview of that day's global flavors, music and traditional folk dance.
Festival organizers describe the event on their own website as a community-run effort: the participating nations organize everything themselves, and each nation holds an equal voice in how the festival comes together, according to festivalofnationsalbany.org. Any ethnic group registered as a nonprofit can apply to join the lineup, the festival's site states — a structure that has allowed the event to grow from year to year while keeping its organizing in the hands of the communities it represents.
As it has for more than five decades, the Festival of Nations is meant to bring communities together to celebrate heritage and introduce their traditions to one another. With 27 nations now expected to take part, this year's gathering adds another chapter to that run, set once again against the backdrop of the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in downtown Albany.
