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Houston hosts festival of Turkic People

13 September 2007 08:42 (UTC +04:00)

The weekend of September 8-9, 2007 in Houston, Americaâ€™s fourth largest city and home to more than 4 million people, became memorable for an outstanding joint festival of Turkic people. The multiparty celebration was made possible by the Turkish Raindrop Foundation, a non-profit organization established in Houston with a mission to build bridges between different cultures through educational and cultural exchange. The Houston-Baku Sister Cities Association (HBSCA) represented Azerbaijan through active participation in this festivity of Turkic Cultures and Children’s festival. Supported by Azerbaijanis (including students of Houston universities), HBSCA volunteers staffed a traditionally decorated booth displaying general information materials, souvenirs, arts and cultural artifacts, many of which provided by the Azerbaijan official organizations in Baku and Washington. Short term presentations and documental movies were broadcasted at the booth on a regular basis. To make parents worry-free and able to enjoy the offering of the festival to its fullest, a small area decorated in an oriental style, full of toys and manned by volunteer baby-sitters was provided for children.
The public was offered a wide variety of programs highlighting the many different heritages shared by Turkic peoples - stretching from as far west as Bosnia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan to as far east as Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The festival was held in Houston for the first time, in a park outside the City Hall in downtown Houston. It attracted more then 7,000 visitors, providing them a unique opportunity to experience Turkic culture and hospitality through cultural displays, art and craftworks, books and music, Turkic food, folk dances, parades by an Ottoman military band and an evening concert by the famous Turkish pop/rock band Ayna./APA/