While Australians from about 30 cities will walk to promote diversity on October 31, thousands of others will flock to a colourful Reconciliation Place for a multicultural kite, music and food festival.
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Canberra's inaugural Walk together, Kite together is the brainchild of two Canberra mums, Jessica Beange from Welcome To Australia ACT and Arwa Hadid from the ACT Muslim Women's Association.
Welcome Australia's forth annual Walk together is using the hashtag #SayWelcome to encourage inclusion for everyone across the nation, including asylum seekers, refugees and international students. The idea of combining the walk with a kite festival inspired Ms Hadid while she was sitting at the National Arboretum Canberra.
"It just sprung into my heart, and it is so surreal how far it's all come. I can't believe it's coming into fruition," she said.
"It's inviting all people from all backgrounds who want to celebrate unity through diversity by coming together in a peaceful and celebratory way. Flying kites is representative of different colours and different people, creating a type of utopia through colour. Colour of people, colour of kites, colour of dance, colour of food."
The day will start with a walk across Commonwealth Bridge and along Lake Burley Griffin, followed by the festival.
"There'll be everything from ukuleles, amazing food from around the world, the famous Bearded Bakers from Sydney, jumping castles, face-painting, kite-making, and lots of local performers," Ms Beange said.
"We'll have a Lebanese drum group, classically used for welcoming people to a wedding, as a way to represent welcome.
Other performances include storytelling by Indigenous groups, Chinese dances, and children dancing to classical African drums."
Last year the event attracted 1500 people and this year twice as many are expected, with support from the ACT government and the local Indian community.
"We are proud to live in a thriving, multicultural society in Australia and that was expressed really well with the launch of the national day of unity up at Parliament House. On a territory level events like this are here to celebrate that," Ms Beange said.
The celebration coincides with the National Mosque Open Day, when the Canberra Islamic Centre will open its doors in support of Syrian refugees.
