Potential rain in the forecast won’t dampen the Citizenship Ceremony planned for Saturday morning in Cobourg’s Victoria Park as part of the Northumberland Diversity Festival. 

In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will move indoors at Victoria Hall, says Northumberland County’s Settlement Services Coordinator Emilio Ojeda. The downtown venue hosted a Citizenship Ceremony in November. 

The hope, though, is for this ceremony to be outdoors, which would be the first time since 2019 when it was held in Port Hope’s Memorial Park. 

Ojeda said the ceremonies are always special no matter where they are held and the newcomers “breathe freedom.”

“You have to see the proud faces…when the judge says ‘welcome to Canada, you are now a Canadian. It’s heartwarming,” Ojeda remarked.

Northumberland County and the Northumberland Hispanic Cultural Club are celebrating with the Diversity Festival ahead of Canadian Multicultural Day, which is Tuesday.

From 12 to 9:00 p.m. Saturday, there will be free cultural entertainment and musical performances, and engaging children’s activities. The Gourmet Ethno-Food Truck Fair will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The celebrations will continue on Sunday, with the Diversity Festival FUSION Concert taking place from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Victoria Park bandshell. The concert will blend sounds from various music genres, featuring performances by Nagata Shachu and Luciano Lu and his Brazilian Band.

The full schedule is available at Northumberland.ca/ DiversityFestival.