Mini Folklife festival equals fun at Alamo Wing Published June 15, 2009 By Senior Airman Luis Loza Gutierrez 433rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs LACKLAND AFB, Texas -- More than 200 people attended the 2009 Alamo Wing Mini Folklife Festival June 10, 2009 at the Smith Park picnic grounds. This year marks the festival's ninth anniversary. The annual event is put on by the men and women of the 433rd Airlift Wing at Lackland AFB, Texas and is held the Wednesday before the Folklife Festival in San Antonio. "The festival is an opportunity to show off the wing's diversity," said Ms. Herlinda Fernandez, festival coordinator. "It's also an opportunity for people to learn about various cultures and ethnic backgrounds through things like music, art and food." This year's festival featured eight booths representing countries such as Germany, Japan and Lebanon. There was also an American booth, which treated guests to hotdogs off the grill and samples of apple pie. Guests were also treated to other American foods such as black-eyed peas and dirty rice at the Soul Food booth, and barbecue ribs and chili at the Southern Comfort booth. The San Antonio chapter of the Pretty Precocious Red Hats also set up a booth, which offered guests a chance to try hot wings in different flavors such as tequila lime and honey barbecue. Variety appeared to be the angle for the Sabor Latino booth, which provided guests with an opportunity to sample foods from 14 Latin American countries. The festival also featured musical entertainment. One group did their interpretation of the popular 1960's hit, "My girl." The Mediterranean Mamas and Mr. Tom Helm shook the stage up with a belly dancing performance and the members of the Latin dance team, Mambo Rico, gave a salsa-dancing lesson to some guests after barely breaking a sweat during a three-person, dancing routine. Brig. Gen. John C. Fobian helped draw the event to a close with a presentation of ribbons to the first, second and third place finishers in the categories for best decor, best costumes and best food. A list of the winners for each of the categories is provided at the end of this article. "I think it's always a lot of fun when people gather to appreciate one another," said Senior Master Sgt. Lenard Edmonds, 433rd Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle maintenance superintendent. Sergeant Edmonds also served as this year's festival emcee. "Many people experience a lot of stress in their daily lives and events like this allow people to just take a few moments to blow off some of the some steam and relax." 2009 Alamo Wing Mini Folklife Festival Contest Results: ** = Tie Category: Best decor 1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Sabor Latino Lebanese, Red Hats (**) German Booth Category: Best costumes 1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Sabor Latino, Red Hats (**) Japanese Lebanese Category: Best food 1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Sabor Latino Lebanese German, Japanese (**)