CultureFest began as a humble student initiative at the J.A. Turner High school in 1991 and has since grown to something much bigger and greater. Originally the event was referred to as Diversity Celebration, but in 1996 the event adopted its currently used name of CultureFest. Each year, the changes in the festival reflect the changing nature of the Brampton community and its gradual cultural transformation into a considerable ethnic mosaic over the past two decades.

Currently, the two-day event consists of seven culturally themed pavilions, namely the European Pavilion, the North American Pavilion, the African/Middle Eastern Pavilion, the West Indian/South American Pavilion, the South Asian Pavilion, the Pacific Rim Pavilion and the International Pavilion, which is an amalgamation of all the aforementioned pavilions. Members of each pavilion perform in a theatrical venue during which traditional dances, artwork, music and language are all displayed.

Ethnic food is also served after the show and spectators of the show can also visit culturally themed booths that exhibit each culture. Students from all backgrounds are encouraged to take part in any pavilion, in order to enrich their experience within the event.

Most recently, the student executive was restructured by a group of determined student's with significant experience within the festival. It is anticipated that under the new structure of leadership, CultureFest 2011 will be met with even more success than it has seen in the past.