Columbia International Festival enters 27th year [Video]

A trip around the world was a lot close than you’d expect this weekend as over 100 different countries were represented at the fairgrounds.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Hundreds of vendors served thousands of people on Sunday at the Columbia International festival with countries from around the globe on display.

Education was the theme inside at the State Fairgrounds as thousands gathered to experience the 27th Annual Columbia International Festival. Alex Vaughn’s family is from the South American country Guyana. They had a table lined with information about a country that she said isn’t well known.

“It’s been a really awesome experience to be able to educate people about Guyana, where it is, the type of things that we offer, and that’s actually an English-speaking country, so you can visit and not need a translator,” Vaughn said.

The two-day festival kicked off Saturday and, according to director Raj Aluri, there were 150 different countries represented.

“South Carolina is a very diverse place, but many of us don’t …