By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer The Western Star, Lebanon, Ohio, US, Sunday, March 01, 2009
Ria Ellison sits with some of her Indonesian shadow puppets at her home Thursday, Feb. 26, in Franklin Twp. Staff photo by Nick Graham
That source is Ria Ellison, a native Indonesian who has lived in the area for 10 years, who is helping Middfest International put together its celebration of Indonesia in October.
She lives in Franklin Twp. with her husband Tod, the nephew of legendary football coach Glenn "Tiger" Ellison, and their two children, Rio, 8 and Sabrina, 7.
Ria Ellison got involved with Middfest last year when she heard Indonesia, a chain of islands north of Australia, might be the featured country.
"I gave them ideas about what they should have from culture, dance and the arts. Indonesia consists of 33 provinces. It's interesting because you have different cultures, different food and different dialects (across the islands)."
The Ellisons met through friends in 1997, and Ria later moved to the United States. They got married the following year.
Tod remembers Indonesia as "hot." "It's 90 degrees there every day and 70 at night. The sun rises and sets at the same time every day because they're right on the equator. In (the capital) Jakarta, people are outside 24 hours a day selling stuff. There's always something going on."
Indonesia has quite a few similarities with the States, too, Ria said. When she first came to America, Los Angeles didn't strike her as being that different from Jakarta.
"They have 'Indonesian Idol' there. They like to copy everything. They adore America," Ria said.
The Ellison children also have clear ideas of what they want to see at Middfest. "They should try some of our foods. There's all kinds of foods," Rio said.
"All the styles of clothes are nice," Sabrina added.
Middfest will run Oct. 3-5.
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