WASHINGTON, DC -- Scores of Little Arawaks went careening around the Meridian International Centre on Saturday as staff from the Embassy of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in Washington DC painted faces and talked about Bahamian culture at Meridian’s 4th International Children’s Festival.

The event was described as “an educational fun-fair where embassies host interactive booths highlighting their country’s rich cultural heritage with exciting displays, crafts, and other activities.” Michelle Fenty, wife of DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, served as Honorary Patron.

The Bahamas was the only Caribbean nation to participate in the event, which also featured embassies from Argentina, Bahrain, China, Fiji, Liechtenstein, Turkey, the United Nations, and others.

The event was an opportunity for embassies to share their countries and cultures with DC youth. In all, more than 20 embassies including The Bahamas had tables featuring cultural artefacts, native cuisine and information.

Reports at the end of the festival estimated that more than 1,000 children came through the event, accompanied by their parents and guardians, and intent on cramming as much fun in as they could.

Those who went to The Bahamas’ table had their faces painted: Arawak designs for the boys and hibiscus flowers for the girls. Eventually, boys being boys, designs started sprouting up that ranged from turtles and dolphins to dragons, and rather than having faces painted, children were sporting paint on arms, hands, legs and whatever else was available.

The event also featured performances from dance troupes representing various countries, in addition to singing ensembles, drumming ensembles and at least one Swiss Alphorn.

In addition to painting the faces of the children, and playing the goatskin drum and talking about Junkanoo, the Embassy was also able to talk about tourism, particularly the extremely popular ongoing “Companion Airfare” promotion, and to discuss trade and investment in The Bahamas.