American Civic Association's annual All Nation's Parade and Festival
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – The ACA's biggest event of the year is happening this weekend, with dancers, music, food, and handmade works of art. Tomorrow is the American Civic Association's annual All Nation's Parade and Festival starting at Binghamton City Hall at 11 a.m.
Local volunteers decorated the front lobby of the ACA with colorful, hooked tapestries that all spell the word 'hello' in five different languages. The Vice President of the group, Paulette Hackman, says the five languages include Ukrainian, French, Spanish, English and Arabic.
'The languages, as I explained before, were the ones we were told were their most often heard and used. And the reason we came up with hello was, we wanted to put across a greeting to people coming here. We all come from other countries originally,' Hackman said.
She says each rug takes a couple of days to make, and they use wool or fabrics from old clothing. The tapestries are hanging in the main lobby, so anyone who enters the building is greeted with five different hellos.
Everyone is invited to participate in tomorrow's parade and festival, and the ACA encourages people to express their culture with a festive dance, banner, or whatever they want.
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San Francisco Chronicle
5 hours ago
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The world's oldest restaurant faces a challenge from another Madrid tavern that says its even older
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'If you look at the restaurant's logo, it says 'Casa Pedro, since 1702,' so we said, 'Damn it, let's try to prove it.'' Guiñales, 51, remembers her grandfather swearing by Casa Pedro's age, but she was aware that decades-old hearsay from a proud old-timer wouldn't be enough to prove it. Her family hired a historian and has so far turned up documents dating the restaurant's operations to at least 1750. That puts them within striking distance of Botín's record. Clients and rivals Both taverns are family-owned. Both offer Castilian classics like stewed tripe and roast suckling pig. They are decorated with charming Spanish tiles, feature ceilings with exposed wooden beams and underground wine cellars. And both enjoy a rich, star-studded history. Botín's celebrated past includes a roster of literary patrons like Truman Capote, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Graham Greene. In his book 'The Sun Also Rises,' Ernest Hemingway described it as 'one of the best restaurants in the world." 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Antonio González, a third-generation proprietor of Botín, concedes that the Guinness accolade awarded in 1987 has helped business, but said the restaurant had enough history to draw visitors even before. 'It has a certain magic,' he said. Pretenders to the crown The question then becomes: How can either restaurant definitively claim the title? Guinness provides its specific guidelines for the superlative only to applicants, according to spokesperson Kylie Galloway, noting that it entails 'substantial evidence and documentation of the restaurant's operation over the years." González said that Guinness required Botín show that it has continuously operated in the same location with the same name. The only time the restaurant closed was during the COVID-19 pandemic, as did Casa Pedro. 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