Cold temperatures may have delayed the start of the cultural festival and its performances over Veishea weekend, but the chilly breezes didn’t hold back the excitement or the appreciation of various student organizations thankful for the opportunity to show off their country and culture.

Many of the open houses for the cultural festival were just beginning to set up about an hour after the event was to begin on Saturday, and the first two scheduled performances were running at least an hour behind, but the organizations present were enjoying the opportunity to show Iowa State exactly who they are.

Thailand Student Association member Prasit Wongpakapattanawong said the group, which represents the 40 Thai students at ISU, wanted to be a part of the Veishea Cultural Festival to show people at ISU where Thailand is and what its culture is like. “Also, this year is the 50th anniversary of our king. We wanted to show respect to our king,” Wongpakapattanawong said.

The Indonesian Christian Fellowship (ICF) was selling food to earn money for a group trip to Jamaica. In Jamaica, the group will sing in churches and in public gardens, help teach in schools and help the churches, said Dipowarga Wirawan, president of ICF. Wirawan said the trip will be a good cross-cultural experience as well.

The Society of Indian Tradition and Arts (SITAR) was also selling goods for a fund-raising program.

Instead of food, SITAR was selling crafts. Some crafts were donated by SITAR members, while others were sent to ISU by former ISU students from their homeland, said Krishna Dhara, SITAR member.

All the proceeds from SITAR’s sales are being donated to literacy programs in India, Dhara said.