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	Girl power: Chinese jumprope on the National Mall, right in front of the Streetplay stoop

Let us fill in the details of this strange happenstance.

Each year, the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage holds a festival in Washington D.C. highlighting different people and cultures from throughout the world. The event takes place in the National Mall, the rectangular space bordered by the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument, and the museums of the Smithsonian Institution.

The folklife of NYC will be the major theme in this year's festival, which will be held on June 27-July 1 and July 4-July 8, 2001. Over a million people visiting the nation's capitol will be treated to an eclectic assortment of New York personas recreating the essence of Broadway, the garment center, ethnic cuisine, Wall Street, streetplay and many other themes that help make the Big Apple the magical place that it is.

This is the first time we've attended, but we understand that the festival is an absolutely wonderful affair. If you get a chance, come on down. We'll be in the "Neighborhoods Section," teaching people some of the old time games, and recording stories and memories people recall from when they were growing up.

For more information about this year's festival, please visit http://www.si.edu/festival/nyc.htm.