By Jason Massad/Staff Writer for The Vacaville Reporter

It was a little Italy and a dash of Chinatown, with some spicy jambalaya mixed in for good measure at Saturday's Vacaville Cultural Diversity Fair.

Thousands of people from across Solano County poured into the Vacaville Cultural Center throughout the day to enjoy cuisine and events centered around the area's diverse cultural heritage.

The food ran the gamut from sushi and noodles to croissants, hot links and barbecue chicken.

Larry Valmore, with an area Masons group, cooked up one of the event's tastiest offerings: soul and Creole food. Jambalaya and gizzards could be had for just $2.50 a plate, the same as dirty rice and chicken wings.

"My friends and I get together like this every year and cook," he said.

Katherine Jordan, head organizer of the event, said the diversity fair - now in its seventh year - is becoming a Vacaville tradition because of its uniqueness.

Fiesta Days, a very popular community event, showcases the town's Mexican and Western heritage, but the diversity fair spotlights the full array of backgrounds of Vacaville's residents.

Blacks, Samoans, Chinese, Japanese, Native Americans and Indians are an important part of the city's cultural fabric, Jordan said. To expand the event this year, Jordan said she even tried to lure a German group and a Scottish clan to the city's fair.

"Vacaville is made up of a lot of cultures," she said. "We couldn't get them all."

In the courtyard of the Vacaville Cultural Center, a sort of Disney Epcot experience was set up for youngsters and parents who really wanted to dig into the ways of another culture.

Passports were handed out to children, who could then visit "countries" in different parts of the courtyard and get their passports stamped for their visit.

Tiffany Lin Ell, dressed in a red silk chi-pow dress, represented her Chinese background.

In Ell's corner of the world, you could learn how to draw the Chinese symbol for luck, a complicated character that takes those who study it years to perfect.

Her own knowledge of Chinese culture comes in part from her mother and in part from her church, which promotes her cultural education, she said.

"My mom thinks I should at least make an attempt to learn about my culture," she said.

The cultural celebration also had a studious side.

Vanden High School was named the winner of an artistic competition for its creation of dozens of masks as diverse as the students who made them.

The masks were plaster casts of students' real faces that were then painted and affixed to one display. Art teacher Lee Ann Rust coordinated the effort.

Meanwhile, winners of a poetry contest were able to read their thoughts about diversity aloud Saturday, and an earlier design contest netted a colorful piece of art for the fair's program.

The drawing shows 13 zebras running in a herd, boasting colors from all parts of the rainbow - from black and white to purple, forest green, azure and lime.

The day's entertainment was also a display of differences.

In the center's darkened theater, traditional Mexican dancing, interpretive movement with a diversity message, and even a lively group of seniors playing polka music attempted to broaden the minds of the audience. And some of the entertainers just wanted to jam.

The Alley Cats, a group of rhythmic seniors who live in the Lemon Tree senior mobile home park, played an array of music with a variety of instruments.

The most unusual was a "gut bucket," a metal tin turned upside down and connected to a stick by a piece of string. Pulled taut, the Americana instrument sounds a lot like a bass fiddle, said Muriel Rogers, a tambourine player with the group.

She added that older people represent diversity as well.

"We like to show the young people that we can play," Rogers said.