Community Day Celebration

Saturday, September 26th, 10am - 4pm

I-Hotel & Conference Center

See below for the 2026 Schedule of Events, a map of the building, and information on our Entertainment and Activity Table hosts this year.

schedule

map

Entertainment

Ballet Folklorico UIUC

Ballet Folklorico UIUC Dance and Music Group

Ballet Folklorico Mitotiani is an organization focusing on the cultural aspect of Mexico. Ballet Folklorico has been a long tradition of dancing depending on the different regions of Mexico. The dances include colorful dresses that stem mainly from Jalisco, Nuevo León, Veracruz, Michoacán, Nayarit, Guerrero, Yucatán, San Luis Potosi, and Puebla. Each region developing a different, yet similar style of dancing. For these dances to be heard, heels for women and boots for men have nails on the tip and the heel. This requires a vast range of dancing techniques that we are prepared to show you. Although these physical logistics are important to know, Ballet Folklorico is a cultural enhancement to this campus, bringing lively color to many events that promote Latinx culture. Our mission is to increase a deeper understanding and connection to Latinx culture on campus and demonstrate the broad variety of regions that Mexico has to offer.

GRMD UIUC

GRMD

Gah Rahk Mah Dahng is a Korean Traditional Percussion RSO (Registered Student Organization) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We play a genre called Samulnori, featuring four different instruments. Our songs are passed down orally from generation to generation. Our goal is to spread Korean cultural music through Korean traditional percussion, and to further develop our skills to perform.

2026 Activity Room Partners

Along with our entertainment performers, the festival welcomes a number of local community organizations and centers to offer a selection of fun, literacy-based activity tables for children and their families:

United Way of Champaign County

Urbana Free Library

Champaign Public Library

Uniting Pride

Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Center for Children's Books UIUC

United Way Activity Table

If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate in the Youth Literature Festival, please contact Mackenzie Gillespie at dankle@illinois.edu or call (217) 300-1774. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your accessibility needs.