MINISTER for Multicultural Affairs Joy Burch can hardly suppress her excitement as the 2013 National Multicultural Festival looms large in Civic this weekend. 

With expectations of than 250,000 people packing into Civic, hopes are high that the Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast of isolated showers may be overstated.

The festival has  been 12 months in the planning and follows a folkloric program established over recent years, with the emphasis on food and drink.

“The fun is almost here, you can feel the city already buzzing,” Burch said, adding that the Food and Dance Spectacular had exceeded all expectations and would feature 420 stalls – 100 more than last year – “selling  everything from Spanish paella and Dutch pancakes, to German sausages and Thai fishcakes.”

Apart from the headliner entertainers like Kate Ceberano, Christine Anu and Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, there’ll be the Fringe in Citywalk, Carnivale the Greek Glendi, the Bengali Showcase, the Turkish Bazaar, the Pacific Islander Showcase and Chinese New Year Celebrations, the latter  usually coinciding with the festival.

In fact, “CityNews” stopped counting at 110 cultural events  focused on stages in Petrie Plaza, Garema Place and Akuna Street.

To give an idea of the range, we spotted Zoi Japanese Cowgirl, Collegium Floklorum Serbia, Finnish Revontulet Folk Dancer, the Canberra Cantonese Opera and Franklyn B. Paverty.

It sounds pretty multicultural to us.

2013 National Multicultural Festival, February 8, 9, 10, For the full program visit www.multiculturalfestival.com.au