Youth choir from a dozen countries helps celebrate Sister Cities Day in Minneapolis

Celebration also includes drum groups, dancers and musicians representing Chile, China, France, Japan, Mexico and Somalia

Minneapolis (July 16, 2015) --- This years Sister Cities Day celebration in Minneapolis is an afternoon of entertainment honoring our global connections through music, dance and performing arts. This family event is free and open to the public, and it also includes free make-your-own ice cream sundaes and refreshments, while supplies last. Featured entertainment this year includes Sounds of Hope, an international youth choir featuring 74 performers from 12 countries around the world, as well as musicians and performers representing Chile, China, France, Japan, Mexico and Somalia.

The Eighth Annual Sister Cities Day will take place from 1-5 p.m. Sunday, July 19 at the Nicollet Island Pavilion. The event is sponsored by the Minneapolis Global Partnership Program and will feature remarks at 2 p.m. by Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, Sister Cities International President and CEO Mary D. Kane. The program will also recognize milestone anniversaries in three of Minneapolis Sister City relationships, including Ibaraki City, Japan (35 years); Uppsala, Sweden (15 years); and Eldoret, Kenya (15 years).

Minneapolis has 12 international Sister City relationships, and representatives from three of those cities will attend the celebration, including Cuernavaca, Mexico; Eldoret, Kenya; and Ibaraki City, Japan. Minneapolis is also welcoming its newest Sister City, Bosaso, Somalia. That relationship was established in 2014, making Minneapolis the first city in the U.S. to become a Sister City to a city in Somalia.

Highlights of the entertainment throughout the afternoon include:

• Chile sin Fronteras, representing Santiago, Chile.
• Sounds of Hope youth choir, with performers from a dozen countries.
• Harisen Daiko, Taiko drum group, representing Ibaraki City, Japan.
• Somalian Museum Dance Troupe, representing Bosaso, Somalia.
• Clara Osowski and Marc Bilyeu, Source Song, representing Tours, France.
• A Traditional Lion Dance, representing Harbin, China.
• Ballet Folklorico, representing Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Full program details and performance times are available at www.minneapolis.org/sistercitiesday.

Minneapolis Sister Cities program

The Minneapolis Sister Cities program was established in 1961 with the signing of the first Sister City agreement between Minneapolis and Santiago, Chile. Additional official sister cities include Cuernavaca, Mexico; Eldoret, Kenya; Harbin, China; Ibaraki City, Japan; Kuopio, Finland; Novosibirsk, Russia; Winnipeg, Canada; Tours, France; Uppsala, Sweden; Najaf, Iraq; and Bosaso, Somalia.

Minneapolis Sister Cities program is managed by Meet Minneapolis and provides global connections and exchanges between international cities and the residents of Minneapolis, with the purpose of creating cultural awareness and fostering mutually beneficial opportunities. These relationships are supported and implemented by local citizen groups in Minneapolis and have also been accredited by Sister Cities International in Washington, D.C.

Sister Cites International is a program started by President Dwight Eisenhower to foster people-to-people citizen diplomacy. Sister Cities promotes peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperationone individual, one community at a time. The International organization focuses on creating and strengthening partnerships between communities around four key themes: sustainable and economic development, arts and culture, youth and education, and humanitarian assistance.

ABOUT MEET MINNEAPOLIS

Meet Minneapolis is a private, not-for-profit, member-based association. It actively promotes and sells the Minneapolis area as a destination for conventions and meetings, works to maximize the visitor experience and markets the city as a desirable tourist destination to maximize the economic benefit to the greater Minneapolis area.

Meet Minneapolis is accredited by the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) of the Destination Marketing Association International.

Find out more:

Online: www.minneapolis.org and http://go.minneapolis.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/meetminneapolis?ref=ts

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/meetminneapolis

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MEDIA CONTACT

Matt Laible, Communications and Public Relations Manager 612.767.8220, mattl@minneapolis.org

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