First major Turkish Festival organized in Chicago

Chicago will host the first major Turkish Festival on May 24-26, showcasing Türkiye’s cultural richness

Chicago, a city in the U.S. state of Illinois, will host its first major Turkish Festival on May 24-26.

The festival, held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago’s Rosemont district, is expected to bring together around 10,000 participants from across the U.S.

Halil Demir, one of the founders of the “Turkish Festival Committee” that organizes the festival, gave an Anadolu Agency reporter evaluations about the activities.

Stating that about 500,000 Muslims are living in Chicago, Demir said, “We wanted to organize this cultural festival with the hope that it would be accepted as the beginning of an impression we will give people about our history and culture by both connecting them to Türkiye from here and bringing Turkish culture here.”

Demir stated they aimed to bring all the cultural beauties that Turkish people can offer to the festival.

Noting that they will exhibit many cultural textures of Türkiye such as music concerts, films, marbling art, hand embroidery, especially the performance of the mehter team and Mevlevi whirling dervishes, Demir said that they will also bring well-known Turkish and foreign artists to the festival.

Demir stated that they would also organize three days of events to introduce Turkish food culture.

From the first 2,000 people to register for the Turkish festival, 20 people selected by lottery will receive a round-trip ticket to Türkiye on Turkish Airlines.

Source: Newsroom & AA