Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning Valley Historical Society is canceling its remaining three “Culture and Cuisine Nights” scheduled for fall.

“With continued precautions for public health and the nature of these big crowd events, MVHS has decided to focus efforts on planning 2021 events for this series,” the society said in a Friday statement.

“We felt it wouldn’t be in the community’s best interest to bring a large group of people together at this time,” said George D. Beelen, Mahoning Valley Cultural Alliance chairman.

The MVCA is an advisory group of volunteers that promotes cultural education for the historical society. The volunteer group was formerly known as the Ohio Cultural Alliance before being incorporated into MVHS in 2019.

“What makes these particular events truly special is the communal dining and socializing, while experiencing cultural enrichment through live ethnic performances. That doesn’t translate so easily with the kind of virtual formats we’ve adopted for some of our other programming during these cautious times,” said Linda Kostka, historical society’s development diirector.

“Culture and Cuisine Nights” began last year with two well-attended events in October and November, celebrating Hispanic customs and Victorian Christmas traditions, respectively.

The 2020 springtime events were planned to showcase German and Romanian cultures. The fall events were to highlight Italian, African and Greek cultures. The MVCA group will consider these again for the 2021 series.

For updates and plans for the “Culture and Cuisine Nights” 2021 series, MVHS asks the community to visit its website at https://mahoninghistory.org.

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