Summer 09 – Children's Festival 2009

An estimated 1500 people visited the BAYCC Annual International Children’s Festival held on May 9th, at the Music Concourse Bandshell Area in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. The organizing committee really moved it up a notch at the 4th festival of its kind, with fourteen groups taking the stage with their colorful dresses, lively songs and authentic folk dances. April 23rd is the International Children’s Day in Turkey, having the same theme, and BAYCC has been bringing the tradition to the U.S., with its large Turkish member base. This year, Turkish food was on the menu too, nothing less then the authentic home-made Turkish delicacies, sold at several booths served by BAYCC volunteers. The venue was excellent for the event, at the world-renown beautiful Golden Gate Park, right between the California Academy of Sciences and de Young Museum, frequented by masses during the weekends. The festival turned out to be such a big hit that the organizing committee will find its hands full next year, to up the bar. There are already plans to expand performances, attractions and food booths, so there is much to look forward to, for next year’s festival.

Bay Area Cultural Connections (BAYCC) has been celebrating International Children’s Day every spring, since 2006. International Children’s Day is celebrated in Turkey on April 23rd, commemorating the of inauguration of the Grand National Assembly in 1920. Following the tradition in Turkey, BAYCC invites the schools of different ethnicities throughout the Bay Area, to perform their folk dances, with their authentic clothes and native songs. For the past years, the program was held at community centers in Palo Alto, with 5-7 participating groups. This year’s program was held in the open at the Golden Gate Park, and 14 groups performed for a much larger audience. This year’s program was co-sponsored by Pacifica Institute . Venue Golden Gate Park is located in the sunset district of, San Francisco, spanning 1017 acres of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but slightly larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. With 13 million visitors annually, Golden Gate is the third most visited city park in the U.S. It is the home to many landmarks, including Conservatory of Flowers, Kezar Stadium, and Japanese Tea Garden. Near the northern border of the park, is the The Music Concourse area, an oval-shaped open-air plaza. This year’s festival was held at the focal point of Music Concourse area, the Spreckels Temple of Music, also called the “Bandshell”, where numerous music performance have been staged. The constant flow of people entering and exiting the two nearby museums, California Academy of Sciences and De Young Museum provided a good source of audience. An estimated 1500 people stopped by to watch performances and taste Turkish delicacies. Parking was a breeze (not really). Well, not everything can be perfect, and this is San Franciso we are talking about. Regular visitors of Golden Gate Park were not surprised to walk a long distance after they park, though, and the day was exceptionally warm, so it was a nice excuse to get some exercise.

Fifteen groups performed with their traditional songs and dances, including Turkish, Bosnian, Chinese, Mexican, Scottish, Meskhetian Turkish, Indian, Bangladeshi, and Hawaian groups. Surveying favorite performances, we found out that there is no consensus on a single best-performer group, although some groups were mentioned more frequently than others (no, we will not announce them here). This was not a competition, after all, nor were the performers professional dancers. The goal was to celebrate diversity and kindle friendship, and mission was accomplished.

A welcome development of this year’s festival was the serving of authentic home-made Turkish food. A quick survey revealed manti , Turkish meat ravioli, as the favorite food at the festival. Small pieces of dough filled with ground beef, manti takes long to prepare, even for a small number of guests. Feeding hoards of guests undoubtedly took many Turkish-lady-hours. Or time of helping/grunting Turkish husbands, for that matter. So, next time you are munching on a spoonful of manti (with a topping of yogurt with spices, mmm) think of how long it takes to prepare this delicacy. Other attractions were doner (gyros), lahmacun (sometimes called Turkish pizza), gozleme (pastry, usually filled with feta cheese), and lentil kofte. Many of those were quickly out of supply though (mental note for next festival). For those of us mere mortals that did not have a chance to taste those, there was a variety of Turkish dessert. So, that was my favorite. My son, on the other hand, loved cotton candy, cup cakes and popcorn (no surprise there).

There was much good feedback about the festival. I think the highlight of the entire festival is the delicious blend of a variety of cultures, as italicized under BAYCC’s name: where the cultures meet. The guests left the festival happy and well-fed. Plans are already on the way, to make next year’s festival bigger and better, with a wider spectrum of groups and richer variety of Turkish food. The pictures can be viewed on BAYCC web site, and we always welcome your comments or suggestions via e-mail.