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As the holidays draw closer, members of the Grady County community gathered at the Roddenbery Memorial Library in Cairo for the Second Annual Multicultural Holiday Celebration. The event, put on by Scottie Rasbury and the Grady County Fine Arts Council, allowed members of the community to discuss their religious holiday customs and traditions.

“We wanted to acknowledge the different cultures in Grady, Thomas and Mitchell County,” Rasbury, a board member of both the Grady County Fine Arts Council and the Friends of the Library, told the Post-Searchlight in an interview. Dr. Yvonne Stewart spoke to the audience about Ramadan; Dr. Peggy Venable talked about the holiday customs of the Muscogee tribe, complete with Christmas songs in the native language; members of the Hickox family discussed Christmas; Don Nickerson addressed Hanukkah; and Rasbury spoke on the traditions of Kwanzaa. Empress Washington and Skye Odoms-Davis led a dance session to close out the event. Reverend Alexander Mack, pastor of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, was the master of ceremony for the event, and provided the benediction.

This year, Rasbury reached out to members of different cultures in Decatur County as well, though none were able to participate. “My goal in life is to enhance and improve the life of all ethnicities in Grady County,” she said. “I think the more we challenge our knowledge of other cultures, the more diversity we’ll be able to add to our lives, and the lives of our children.”

If any residents of Decatur County wish to present their own religious or cultural traditions at next year’s celebration, Rasbury can be reached at 229-377-4285, or 229-421-6117.