SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – The sounds of live music, sizzling food, and various performances welcome visitors to Salt Lake City this weekend as part of the 36th Annual Living Traditions Festival.

The multicultural festival celebrates diversity in Salt Lake City, according to Salt Lake City Arts Council Executive Director Felicia Baca.

A lineup of artists and performers from various cultures, both new to the festival and returning, joined together to transform the streets around Washington and Liberty Square. Each booth, song, art piece, and dance shared a part of their own unique stories and traditions.

“We have so many different things,” said Baca. “Chinese calligraphy is happening, we have Ecuadorian nut carving, we have Tongan bone carving, we have cowboy boot makers. There’s really just some incredible things to see.”

The three-day-long festival serves as an invitation to learn, celebrate, and embrace the unique melting pot of cultures that call Salt Lake City home.

“I think more than ever people have a voice and people want to share their story, and Living Traditions is about sharing stories,” said Marla Love who has an art booth set up celebrating the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead. “Living Traditions is about sharing your lineage, your heritage.”

For those who set up shop at the event and open their doors for festival attendees to learn about their traditions, they say the festival helps others to see the world through new eyes.

One of the festival vendors Ben Hernandez said he thinks Salt Lake City needs the diversity of people and cultures.

“It needs that diversity and it’s important for the cultures. Not just the city but for everybody that lives here,” he said.

The event continues tomorrow, May 21, for its final day starting at noon.