WENATCHEE — A trip to the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center on Saturday was a passport to a dozen different lands.

Visitors got tastes of Italy and Norway, enjoyed the booming sounds of Asia and danced like birds to Mexican rhythms as they had their passports stamped at the many cultural booths during the museum’s second annual Multicultural Fest.

The Valley showed off its varied heritage at booths scattered throughout the museum. The Sons of Italy provided spaghetti and meatballs and biscotti. The Sons of Norway had krumkakes. Thai crafts, Afghan costume, Russian dolls and armor and weaponry from medieval Europe were displayed and explained.

Entertainment folded visitors in and offered them bits of wisdom from the museum stage. There were hula dancers, mariachi dancers, Indian dancers and even bird dancers.

Al Retasket, a Wenatchee resident of Canadian Shuswap Indian descent, explained the elaborate costume he wore for a grass dance popular with tribes of the Great Plains in the early 1800s.

“We wear seven bells on our ankles because we believe what we do affects seven generations,” he said. Retasket, who is in his 60s, was winded after the two exhuberant grass dances he performed.

“I aspire to be the oldest grass dancer in the country. Most retire at about 35,” he said. Retasket and his family perform across the nation each summer.

Four local dancers mimicked migratory bird movements while dancing the merengue to Latin music. The dance is part of a nonprofit educational project to teach people about neotropical migratory birds who travel between South America, Mexico and as far north as Canada and Alaska, said choreographer Rhona Baron. By the end of the performance, Baron had much of the audience dancing the merengue as they flapped their arms and dipped their heads as if they were the wings and beak of a long-billed curlew.

“Now isn’t that a fun way to learn about birds,” she asked the audience to confirming applause.

The audience also got into the act when the Wenatchee Taiko Dojo Japanese drummers performed. Dave O’Connor and Kari Erickson’s troupe banged on huge handsome drums O’Connor made from discarded wine barrels. The married couple own the Wenatchee School of Karate. Erickson said they got into drumming purely by accident after seeing a Japanese drum group perform at a martial arts tournament. The performers let Erickson and O’Connor play the drums and they were immediately hooked, making drums, practicing and adding classes in synchronized drumming at their school.

After their performance Saturday, Erickson invited members of the audience to try their hand. Many did, booming out their enjoyment of exploring culture first hand.

“You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it for yourself,” she said.

Rick Steigmeyer: 664-7151

steigmeyer@wenatcheeworld.com