The First Turkish Festival of Charlotte turned out to be a great success on Nov 13, with the support of volunteers and sponsors and the leadership of American-Turkish Association of North Carolina Charlotte Chapter. A crowd of about 1000 - 1500 people have come to the Extravaganza Depot on Tryon to enjoy Turkish hospitality, food, folk dances, music, hand crafts, plays, culture and more. The media and press showed a lot of interest. Charlotte Observer wrote two articles before and after the festival.
The local TV Channel 14 talked about the festival with praise. After the opening speech of ATA-NC Charlotte President, Ertunga Ozelkan and ATA-NC President, Buket Aydemir at 11am, the festival continued at a high pace with colorful shows. Dr. Ertunga Ozelkan, who is also a UNC Charlotte Systems Engineering & Engineering Management Professor said, “I truly believe this past Saturday is the beginning of a new era in the history of the Turkish Americans in the Greater Charlotte Region and North Carolina.” He also indicated that they were honored and proud with the presence of friends from other parts of North Carolina who came to support the Charlotte team on this special day and emphasized that all volunteers should be proud with this success.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/07/1812262/turkish-cuisine-meets-collards.html?ref=nf
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/14/1836938/festivalgoers-delight-in-all-things.html
At the festival, the Bluestar Dance Troupe and Anatolian Waves Folk Dancers presented vibrant dances from different regions of Turkey. Group Dunden Bugune and Group maTRak played beautiful Turkish melodies. Nedret Karan mesmerized all spectators with a Kanun recital. Other shows that made the festival colorful were the water painting (marbling), Karagoz and Hacivat shadow puppet show, Zelnik the Magician, and Sholeh Belly Dance Group.
The festival guests had an opportunity to taste delicious Turkish cuisine sampling doner and other kebaps, boreks, baklava and kadayif, and continued sipping their Turkish coffee and listening to Fortune Telling. The Dolma Cooking Demonstration got the attention of many people. The information posters that were done as part of a children’s competition presented very interesting facts and figures about different regions of Turkey and about Turkish Food. Besides these, the children enjoyed face painting, evil eye charm hand crafts, and carpet weaving. The guests posed in Turkish costumes at the photo booth and visited the exhibition where many Turkish items were displayed.
ATA-NC Charlotte is thinking that with such a success, it is natural that the expectations of their American friends will grow in the future, but they believe their dynamic growing community is ready to embrace all expectations. “One of the success factors for future will be our ability to learn fast from our initial experience.” said Dr. Ozelkan and added that while they did great in general, they know that there are still things they can improve.
The Turkish Festival of Charlotte was sponsored by several organizations and companies. The Main Sponsor was Turkish Cultural Foundation, The Platinum Sponsors were ATA-NC, Bridge to Turkiye Fund, and Yafa Market & Cafe, The Gold Sponsor is FHS Supply & Manufacturing Inc, the Silver Sponsors were Indigo Blue Skin Studio, Apex Martial Arts, Lowe’s, Bali&Bali Works, and Carolina Kebap and the Bronze sponsor was Tulumba.com. ATA-NC Charlotte knows that this festival would not be possible without the support of the sponsors.
