The 26th Annual International Festival will be held over Labor Day Weekend, August 29- Sept. 1.  This year’s festival will once again be on the grounds of the Newburgh Armory Unity Center at 321 S. William Street. There will be vendors, a variety of international and local cuisine, a carnival with rides and games, and special appearances by the Hudson Valley’s own, Voices of Glory, “America’s Got Talent” finalists,  and Jermaine Paul, Season 2 Winner of “The Voice.”

Vendors are still being accepted for the festival. The fee is $150 for the entire weekend, including Friday evening, when the carnival rides start up.  The International Festival Committee is also seeking donations.

The Voices of Glory will perform at 7 p.m. on Saturday, August 30. Siblings Michael II, 22, Avery, 18 and Nadia, 14, started singing together in 2007 after their mother, Felicia, was in a head-on car collision with a drunk driver, which landed her in an eight -month coma. They serenaded their mother for months and she eventually came out of the coma and began the rehabilitation process.  Having seen the benefits of music for their mom, they started traveling to nursing homes and other hospitals in an effort to help other patients.

Then came the NBC hit, “America’s Got Talent” in 2009, where the group beat out more than 100,000 hopefuls and made it to the Top Five. Since “America’s Got Talent”, Voices of Glory have performed at a number of key events, including the pre-show of the 41st Annual GMA’s Dove Awards. Since then, the group has established their own award winning live music show “Ayo” in Branson, Missouri, and had the opportunity to sing before a crowd of more than 18,000 at Madison Square Garden. In March of 2015, by invitation of Welcome Msomi, producer/director of the late Nelson Mandela’s inauguration, they will perform in the “Drums of the World Festival” in South Africa to celebrate Mandela’s life.