LOS ANGELES, April 29, 2013 — The Pacifica Institute announced today that it will host the Fourth Annual Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival in Orange County, CA on May 16 to 19, 2013. Visitors will experience a vast variety of mouthwatering foods, live performances of music and dance and stunning exhibits, as well as a series of lectures about the region’s culture and history.
“We offer a unique and fun cultural adventure in the heart of Southern California,” said Ibrahim Barlas, President of The Pacifica Institute which organizes the festival. “This year we have added wonderful new features to entertain our regular and first-time visitors.”
Among the festival’s main attractions are the three-dimensional sets of the Anatolian cities, offering visitors a chance to walk around them and explore. Each city is brought to life by musicians, dancers and craftsmen who will travel to the festival to represent their regions.
The festival is once again sure to surprise visitors with the region’s diverse history, putting on display the Palace of the Sultans in Istanbul alongside Rumi’s Sufi Mosque in Konya and the Armenian Church of Akhdamar in Van. This year, the line-up includes Mardin, Ankara, Gaziantep, Eskisehir, Trabzon, Cappadocia and Izmir with a stunning new exhibit dedicated to the House of the Virgin Mary.
Other highlights will include performances by the Whirling Dervishes, the traditional Ottoman Marching Band, a world-class folk dancing group, as well as culinary demos and talks by renown authors Clifford A. Wright (One Pot Wonders, 2013) and Faye Levy (Healthy Cooking for the Jewish Home, 2008).
The Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival
Where: Orange County Fair and Event Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa. CA.
When: Thursday through Sunday, May 16-19, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Tickets $12 adults, $9 military personnel and seniors, $6 children
Four-day admission tickets are also available.
For more information visit www.anatolianfestival.org and www.pacificainstitute.org, or call (310) 208-7290